The New Generation: Students
by MaverickBuff
Summary: Years have passed since, and now, a new generation of shinobi will arise. Hiroshi, Sora and Ryouta set out on a new adventure as they take up their job as shinobi of the Leaf, and along the way, they will learn what it takes to become a true shinobi.
1. Prologue: The Genin Test

_As I regularly keep up with the manga series, my thoughts will always be geared towards whatever happens in the manga, and there is a slight possibility that this fanfic may or may not contain spoilers from the original manga, so do read at your own risk. Don't blame me if I spoil the story before hand. You have been warned...XD. Spoilers will start anytime from after THIS sentence.  
_

_ Also, I obviously don't own Naruto. If I did, I'd be making a lot of money, I'd stop studying right now, this fanfic would not even exist, I'd give Asuma's team some screen time, I'd give Gai's team more screen time, I'd give Team eight even more screen time, I'd give Kiba the most screen time next to Naruto, I'd give Tenten and Shino decent screen time (they are the only shinobi from Naruto's group who don't seem to have taken part in much action and also the only ones among them who hasn't got a flashback about themselves...as of yet), Sasuke will be less emo (although I must admit he is much less emo and likable now) and Hinata will end up with Naruto sometime between now and the end of the storyline. (you can basically guess which characters I like or dislike, roughly by now.)._

_Note: I may rate this fanfic as T, but do know that there will be some violence, swearing, and some sexual references. Thanks.  
_

_Enjoy! My, have I been talking too much... _

**Prologue: The Genin Test**

Hiroshi sat around the classroom, looking very glum. The rest of the students of his year were hanging about, some of them chatting amicably with their friends, while others stayed by themselves, trying to revise their skills. There was some palpable tension in the air, and Hiroshi didn't like it. One might ask why was there this tension present. The answer was simple: they were now currently taking their exam to pass as a genin.

This was a big step for Hiroshi. This was his great chance to advance himself in the shinobi ranks of the village. He was as eager as the kid next to him to be able to receive his forehead protector, which would show that he was no longer a student in the ninja academy, but a full fledged shinobi, albeit the lowest ranking shinobi of his village, but a shinobi nonetheless.

The problem was Hiroshi was never good in his studies, and his skills in the arts of shinobi were of no good. As expected, he was the lowest ranking shinobi in his year. He couldn't throw any projectiles properly, his skills at ninjutsu suck, and any decent taijutsu user would trash him easily with his below par melee fighting skills. With his level of intellect and patience, there is no need to say he had no idea how to even perform genjutsu.

The exam was making him nervous. He couldn't imagine all the things they could even try to test on him, and fail badly. He sighed loudly, possibly thinking he would fail. The rest of the people around him were mostly chatting happily, confident in themselves that they could pass the test easily. Perhaps he should just try again next year, but then again, there was no point in not trying.

Hiroshi wondered what was he vaguely good at. The only possible thing he was good at was probably inventions, creating weird equipments with whatever that was at his disposal. He might be slightly skilled in setting up traps to a certain degree, but Hiroshi felt that he wouldn't be setting up a trap in the middle of the classroom. He somehow wished Iruka would consider his ability in creating equipments for shinobis. He could remember his first attempt in impressing Iruka-sensei with his works.

" What's that?" Iruka asked, seeing Hiroshi showing him a new equipment.

" Well look, behold my new innovative invention. The hybrid of a kunai and a shuriken. It mixes both the properties of a kunai and a shuriken," Hiroshi exclaimed, holding up his little piece of weapon.

" Um, Hiroshi, you just melded a shuriken in place of the kunai's blade. How is that going to help? In fact, I think it makes it more cumbersome than before," Iruka said, scratching his head.

" Well…never thought of that…anyway, I lost my workbook. Will this make up for it?" Hiroshi asked sheepishly.

" Suzuki Hiroshi, it's your turn," Iruka's voice called out from the examination room. Hiroshi sighed, praying that it was something easy. He got off his chair and slowly walked towards the examination room, hoping that this might be one of the few last times he would have to stay in the academy classroom.

He looked inside the examination room. There were two examiners inside, Iruka being one of them, seated on the left of the table, a sheet in his hand. The other examiner was a young lady named Ino, who owns a flower shop somewhere in the city, which Hiroshi frequents to get flowers for his mother. Right on the table lay what Hiroshi, along with all the academy students wished to get: the Konoha forehead protector.

However, his heart dropped suddenly when he saw a target board in front of him.

" Right, for the final practical exam, we are doing a shuriken and kunai throwing practice. We give you three shurikens and kunais each, and you will have to throw them to the board. You do not have throw all of them on the board, but you will have to throw them impressively, that's all," Ino replied, smiling gently at him, tossing Hiroshi a weapon pack.

There was a moment of silence between themselves.

" Um, you can start anytime now," Ino prompted.

" Would you be giving up?" Iruka asked.

" Iruka-sensei, he hasn't even started yet," Ino objected.

" I'm sorry, Hiroshi. The final exam just had to be a throwing practice," Iruka apologized.

" There is nothing to it!" Hiroshi exclaimed loudly, tying the weapon pack to his right leg. Flipping out each weapon one-by-one, he threw them at the target board. He was done in 6 seconds.

" I see what you mean," Ino replied.

None of the weapons even came close to hitting the target board. The furthest weapon even flew in Iruka's direction, and he had to catch it to avoid it from hitting his face. Hiroshi sighed. It looked like he had no talent in throwing his basic weapons.

" I'm sorry, Hiroshi, it looks like you failed," Iruka replied, ticking the sheet. _The first, in fact…_

" Iruka-sensei, can you make an exception?!" Hiroshi suddenly exclaimed.

Ino and Iruka raised their eyebrows, wondering what he wanted. " What do you mean make an exception? I can't consider your score in your academy subjects, since they were the lowest anyway…" Iruka said.

" No, Iruka, but I have something I'm working on. What would you say if you give me until midnight? I'm now perfecting a technique in my throwing techniques," Hiroshi replied.

" If you can throw it now, what difference does 2 hours make?" Iruka questioned.

" All I ask is to re-sit this exam in midnight. Please, I promise that I will hit the board by then, and I swear you won't be disappointed," Hiroshi replied. He wondered why was he asking this kind of request. Perhaps he just felt desperate, and he wanted so badly to get the Konoha headband. He couldn't be the few idiots who can't get the forehead protector. He decided to risk a chance. He already failed the test, there was no harm in trying a risk.

Iruka looked a Hiroshi curiously, raising his eyebrows. " Alright, I'll make an exception for you, since you seem pretty determined. I'll be here at 12 midnight. Go now and prepared what you need. Don't disappoint me alright," Iruka said, sighing.

Hiroshi's eyes light up instantly. " Iruka-sensei, thank you! I won't disappoint, I guarantee it!" Hiroshi exclaimed, tearing out of the room. The rest of his classmates looked around in surprise, seeing Hiroshi tearing out of the room in an instant.

---

The next day

Sora looked around the classroom. The students were there as usual, except now the only difference was that all of the wore the Konoha forehead protectors, the symbol of a leaf carved upon the metal plate of their headband. The other difference was that there was a number of students missing, due to the fact that they failed to pass the exam to qualify them as genin.

" Well, if it isn't the violent Sora. I'm surprised you made it. Was it due to the fact that you threatened to beat up Iruka-sensei that he gave in and handed you a forehead protector?" one of the male student jeered.

" Perhaps, but do know that he is not here at the moment," Sora snarled, crackling her knuckles. The male shinobi backed down, not wanting to fight with the class 'taijutsu' expert.

The door to the class suddenly opened, but however, instead of Iruka, it was another student of their class standing by the entrance. Everybody looked at him in awe, not believing their eyes. Sora leaped off her desk and landed right in front of the door of the class.

" It can't be possible. How could you possibly pass?! You can't even throw a shuriken properly to save your life! There was no way in hell you could have passed the final test last night! I figured you were a goner already!" Sora exclaimed to the newcomer. " Punch me, I have to be dreaming."

" Heh, what do you know, I have a lot of talent," Hiroshi chuckled, adjusting his forehead protector on his head.


	2. Chapter 1: Nara Shikamaru

**Chapter 1: Nara Shikamaru**

" Congratulations to those of you who have passed the examinations. As of now, you are fully fledged genins. I must give a warm welcome to all of you as your first steps in becoming a shinobi for the village," Iruka exclaimed in front of class, smiling at his students. Most of them grinned back at him.

" Tell me, how did you pass?!" Sora hissed under her breath, purposely sitting next to Hiroshi to find out what actually happened. Hiroshi has as of now never hit a target board properly, not even with a blunt stick 20 meters away. She was almost confident that he would not pass the genin exam last night, not that she meant anything bad towards her classmate, but this was highly irregular.

" Hey, family trade secret. I can't just tell everyone," Hiroshi replied.

" Tell me..." Sora demanded this time, her voice getting very low and she crackled her knuckles menacingly. Hiroshi could already feel a drop of sweat dropping down the side of his face.

" You know Sora, violence doesn't solve every problem in your life. Just accept the fact that Hiroshi passed and leave it at that. Aren't you glad he is here?" Ryouta, a fellow classmate of theirs who was sitting on the same desk, said.

" Awesome Ryouta-sama! Tell that to her!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Hiroshi!" Iruka exclaimed, raising his voice.

" Sorry, sensei, got a bit excited!" Hiroshi answered back loudly, making the class roar with laughter. Iruka sighed.

" Hey, I told you not to address me like that," Ryouta replied, a bit more sternly but still keeping his good-natured charm.

" It's just my great respect for a great genius of one such as you!" Hiroshi exclaimed. He then mockingly bowed at Ryouta, before saying " Sensei!"

" Perhaps violence does solve some problems," Ryouta sighed.

" Sweet...do you want me to start with the appetizers?" Sora replied, grinning mischievously.

Ryouta was the top student of Hiroshi's year, a genius among the pack. Hiroshi knew that the moment he saw Ryouta step in the class. The calm, cool, confident exterior that he showed was tantamount to his abilities. Ryouta topped the class every year without fail, and with his high marks, there was no argument to that. He was excellent in taijutsu, a master in ninjutsu, and skilled in some areas of genjutsu. He was the embodiment of an excellent shinobi, one everyone in the class wanted to be and one every parent of a shinobi would want to have.

Ryouta was surprisingly friendly and well brought up despite his history. He was supposedly thrown away as a baby in some foreign country, and some of the Konoha shinobi who were patrolling the area picked him up. Raised in an orphanage, he was surprisingly kind, warm-hearted and friendly, unlike the stereotypical stuck-up bastard Hiroshi initially imagined him to be. He wasn't really reclusive, but he was quiet in a way, never the one to start the conversation. However, Hiroshi respected Ryouta, and he knew Ryouta was an awesome shinobi in everyway.

Sora was a childhood friend of Hiroshi, knowing her since small. She was almost the antithesis of a female: brash, tomboyish and violent. Her mother once swore that she sometimes she forgot that she actually had a girl in the house with Sora's attitude. She loved picking fights, and this was one of the reasons why she befriended Hiroshi: he was weak, thus a prime target for bullies, which gave her ample reasons just to beat someone up.

She specialises in taijutsu, and her strength was so much it was scary. She could bend a steel bar with her two hands with some effort, not an easy feat. Hiroshi was always surprised that Sora could actually still look good despite all the training she has gone through to gain the strength to bash up boulders. She had a lithe, athletic body, with great looks to boot. She would get some admirers if she wasn't so violent. Hiroshi knew very well of one boy who asked her out teasingly on a date, which caused him a bruise on the face. That boy was him.

" Alright, now we will place you into groups of three, where you will work as a team. You will also be appointed with jounin sensei to oversee your missions. The allocations of the teams will follow the abilities of your classmates in order to equalise the team strength," Iruka instructed.

" You do know that this will probably mean that you and I will be in the same team," Ryouta told Hiroshi. " Well, since I'm first and you are last."

" But, you aren't complaining right?" Hiroshi replied, grinning.

" No, not at all," Ryouta replied, leaning back on his chair and placing his feet on the table.

" Wonder who the heck our third member be?" Hiroshi asked. " I'd like it to be someone who is not Sora, but you know, things never work out the way you want them to be."

" ...Now, for team 3: Sato Ryouta, Suzuki Hiroshi and Tanaka Sora..."

" I just knew it!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

-

" This is just awesome! I get to team up with the best genin of our year!" Hiroshi cheered, after Iruka was long gone and the rest of them were waiting to be picked up by their jounin senseis. The three of them were free to mingle around, and since now they were teammates, it was a good opportunity to get to know each other much better, not that the three members of team 3 didn't knew each other already, possibly just not intimately.

" Hey, what the heck am I then?" Sora demanded.

" A consolation prize?" Hiroshi took a guess. It was apparently wrong since Sora then pounced upon him and pinned him hard on the ground, hitting his head once in a while.

" You two know each other pretty closely," Ryouta remarked.

" Yeah, he's a childhood friend," Sora replied.

" ...Ryouta, I'll forever be in your debt if you take her out of my life," Hiroshi groaned.

" Nice to meet you," Ryouta said, extending his hand to her. Sora and Ryouta merely knew each other as classmates, not as close friends. Sora jumped off Hiroshi and went up to Ryouta, who was seated several blocks away and slapped his hand. Ryouta looked at her quizzically, wondering what was up.

" Pleasure is all mine, but do know one day I will beat your arse, and that day will be coming soon!" Sora arrogantly exclaimed.

" Ryouta, that's girl-speak she is talking. It can be literally translated to: Ryouta, I think you are one stone cold sexy guy, and I'd love a date with you...say yes to that, please," Hiroshi groaned, still on the floor. Sora then promptly jumped on the poor Hiroshi. Ryouta merely smirked, replying " I'll eagerly wait for that day."

" What's this? It hasn't been over an hour and you are already attempting to kill off your teammate. I knew that being a jounin sensei would be troublesome somehow," someone said, stepping up to them. The three genins looked up at the new-comer.

A young man in his early twenties stood right next to them. He was dressed in the standard shinobi wear of the village: a green tactical vest along with equipment pouches around his belt, plus fishnets around his limbs. He had a pretty young and sharp face, with very probing eyes. He had his hair tied up and sticking up from the back of his head like a small bush. He had a cigarette in his right hand and he was flipping a lighter in his left.

" Wow, our sensei looks pretty cool," Hiroshi replied, looking up at him.

" Really, that's great. You are the first guy to actually comment about me like that," the jounin smirked, taking a puff.

" Well, let's get on with the formalities, shall we? I'm your jounin sensei for team 3, for now. Why don't you introduce yourselves a bit, so that I can know you better," the jounin suggested.

" The name's Tanaka Sora, I'm 12 this year, my birthday is on the 1st of July, my blood type is A, fried food is totally awesome. I love fighting, and my goal in life is to one day beat Ryouta in a one-on-one match! I will so totally own him then!" Sora exclaimed loudly, much to the jounins chagrin. Hiroshi swore that he could hear the jounin mutter " ...Women..." under his breath.

" My name's Suzuki Hiroshi, same age as she is, my birthday is on the 12th of May, never checked for my blood type before, I have no specific skills except maybe creating random eccentric equipments and traps. I like sleeping a lot...and honestly, I don't really have a goal in life as of yet," Hiroshi replied.

" My name is Sato Ryouta, same age, 31st December is my birthday, blood type O. I like eating all sorts of things, and reading books and scrolls is a favourite way of my to pass my time. I, too, have no specific goals or dreams, but I do intend to become a shinobi as good as our Hokage. Not that I'll be learning medical jutsus, but in terms of ability and skill," Ryouta answered softly.

" Why?" the jounin asked.

Ryouta blushed slightly. " Well, I believe it's the task of the strong needing to protect the weak..." Ryouta said, leaving the sentence as that.

The jounin grinned slightly, before saying " Well, my name is Nara Shikamaru, my birthday is none of your concern, my blood type is also none of your concern, whatever I eat is also none of your concern. I love looking at clouds and playing shougi, and if any of you can beat me in shougi, I'll buy you lunch, free of charge, food of your choice."

" Hey, what kind of an introduction was that?" Sora demanded.

" Look, I asked for an introduction, but I didn't say you had an obligation to actually tell me anything personal about yourself. If you want to tell me personal things to me, that's alright, but I don't feel comfortable to share too much with the three of you…not that I have anything against you people," Shikamaru replied.

" Sensei, you are weird," Hiroshi replied.

" Ah, amazingly, that is also a first for me as well," Shikamaru replied, grinning. " Alright, now since we got to know each other very well, we will officially start the genin qualification examination."

The three of them looked at him in surprise, wondering whether he was actually joking or not. " What the hell?! You have got to be kidding me!?" Sora exclaimed loudly. " What do you mean officially start?! Aren't we genins now?"

" Nope, not quite. What you actually set for during the last couple of days was just merely a test to see whether you had the capabilities to become a genin, that's all to it. I will test all of you personally myself, and if you pass, you will officially become genin. Fail, and you will all go back to the academy for another year," Shikamaru replied, smiling at them.

" Then what was the point in getting these headbands then?" Sora demanded, thumbing her headband which she had tied to her right arm.

" Well, that's what I tried to figure out when I initially got them as well. I was under the impression that it was supposed to place you guys under pressure. After all, it's much more stressful to lose your rank than to gain it, correct? See, you are already flustered. If this was actually part of the final exam, you might actually score better. Not that it matters anyway, since only a third of you will pass."

" A third!?" Hiroshi exclaimed. " Crap, I think I'm going to fail…"

" Relax, I believe you people have talent, so listen to me first. I'll explain the test now," Shikamaru said. All three of the got up and sat down on the nearby desks, ready to listen to his instructions clearly.

" This test will be a test of your intelligence, which means it's a paper test…"

" No!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" I said listen to me…"

" Okay, sorry…"

" This will be a paper test. There will be a total of 20 short questions in total. I won't tell what those questions are about. I'll give you all a grace period of 1 day to prepare for the exam. We will all gather at the classroom by 12 noon tomorrow. The paper is set for one hour. You will have to spend your time wisely in order to do what is necessary in order to pass the test. I won't tell you the passing rate, nor will I scale the marks you obtained in any way. However, you will have to do further things during the time for the test. Further rules will be implemented on the day itself," Shikamaru replied.

" Why is this test so complicated?" Hiroshi asked.

" I don't see Ryouta complaining," Shikamaru replied.

" That's because someone is already complaining about it for me," Ryouta replied quietly.

" Very well, you all are dismissed for today. Go start your preparations," Shikamaru said, waving his hand as he started to walk out of the classroom. The three of them sat on their seats, almost dumbstruck. It was Ryouta who broke the silence.

" Well, why don't we start?" Ryouta suggested.

" Start?! Start what?! I don't need to be told that this test is going to be extremely hard, not to mention that crazy cut off point where a third of all of us genins will fail! This is the most ambiguous crap I've ever done in my life! Why couldn't they reserve this kind of test for when I'm a jounin?! Hey, if the level of difficulty is this high for a genin, I can imagine the level of intelligence they need for the jounin test!" Sora suddenly exclaimed.

" Look, Sora, he wouldn't place a test that is totally out of our capabilities, if not there will be no point in testing us anyway. I'm guessing that he will be testing us on a broad spectrum of topics, since he was being very vague with the topics. Well, since we are a team now, why don't we just hit the library and look through as many reference books as we can during the stipulated time?" Ryouta suggested calmly.

" Ryouta, you are a lifesaver! With you around, I could possibly pass the test," Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Bah, whatever! I guess we will need to try anyway," Sora exclaimed.

-

Team 3 headed towards the academy library, and they started to grab a random assortment of books and scrolls on every thing they could find. Taking up a corner of the room, they started to browse through quickly through all of them as fast as humanly possible. Hiroshi wasn't sure what exactly he was reading, the words in the books and scrolls were all a jumble of words to him.

" Basic poisons….God, I have no idea where to find silver weed!" Sora exclaimed.

" They grow mainly along the Daigo mountain range north of our village," Ryouta exclaimed.

" You seem to know every damn thing!" Sora replied.

" Not really," Ryouta said, holding up a book on setting traps. " There are some subtleties in setting traps I'm not good at."

" Oh, let me help! If there is anything I'm vaguely good at, it's using shinobi equipment," Hiroshi exclaimed.

They stayed in the library for hours on end, reading book after book, scroll after scroll, cramming as much as possible as they could in their heads. When it was time to leave the library, they even borrowed a few books back for further reading.

" What sensei said is true. I feel like I'm putting more effort in this test than any test I've previously done before," Hiroshi groaned.

" Don't worry. Didn't he say that he felt we have talent? If so, there is always a chance for us to pass," Ryouta answered.

" You are always surprisingly optimistic," Sora said, frowning.

" I'm confident this test is within our capabilities. We just need to be confident to do that," Ryouta replied. Seeing Sora and Hiroshi still looking pretty down, he continued by saying " Well, since we are now part of Team 3, why don't we go off to a restaurant and celebrate the formation of our team? My treat, of course."

" It hasn't been confirmed that we have passed as genin as of yet," Sora said.

" Free food," Ryouta said.

" I'm in!" Sora exclaimed happily.

They went to the closest one by the library, entering the small restaurant. It was rather empty despite being dinner time. They sat at the end and ordered their food from the waitress working there. Soon enough they were munching down their food with vigour, having done nothing all day except reading their books.

" Take your time, there is no rush…" Ryouta said, sucking in his ramen slowly.

" Bah, this is the speed I always eat!" Sora replied, throwing the chicken bones down on her chicken bone filled plate before taking a long sip from her cup of green tea. She sighed contentedly, sinking down further on her chair.

" You know, I've been thinking. If he said this was a test, and only a third of us will pass, why bother putting us in teams anyway?" Hiroshi piped up.

" Hmm, good point. Well, it might be possible that a third of the teams will only pass. So, there were 12 teams altogether, so that means 4 teams will pass altogether. Of course, yes, it is funny. It's not like we can actually cooperate in the test in anyway. That would be cheating," Ryouta replied.

" Maybe we are supposed to cheat," Hiroshi suggested.

" Stupid Hiroshi," Sora exclaimed, slapping Hiroshi hard on the head. " Don't spout nonsense."

" I wouldn't be surprised though. I heard it was a prerequisite for one of the tests before. I am not sure which one though," Ryouta replied, making loud slurping noises as he sucked the noodles in his mouth. " But yes, it is strange to place us in teams. Anyway, we will find out more about the test by tomorrow, so don't worry about it."

" You don't seem worried," Hiroshi remarked.

" Perhaps I'm not showing it to you now, that's all," Ryouta replied grinning.

When they were done, they left the restaurant and as promised, Ryouta paid for their meals. Sora wasn't one who would complain about a free meal, so for once, she decided not to argue about anything this time and kept quiet as they made their way back to their homes. The night was quiet and cool, very serene. But yet Hiroshi felt an inner turmoil boil within him. He had just gotten his forehead protector, yet he could almost feel that they were going to lose it tomorrow.

" Hey, cheer up! I'm not worried, so why should you be?" Ryouta replied, slapping Hiroshi on the back. " Okay, wrong definition, using me as a comparison to you is a bad idea. But come now, I'm sure it will be just fine tomorrow."

" I can't believe where the hell does that optimism come from?" Sora remarked.

" If we think we are going to fail, then we will. I don't think I will, I don't think I want to, and I don't think I will," Ryouta answered confidently.

" Tch, well, what do you know? The boy genius speaks," Sora sighed.

" Come, let's promise ourselves that we will pass the test tomorrow. We have already attained the rank of a genin, and we shall not give that up. You two are great teammates, and I don't intend to switch team members that soon," Ryouta said, grinning as he held out his hand. Hiroshi grinned slightly, placing his hands on top of his. Sora raised her eyebrows, before sighing and placing it along with theirs.

" Do know I'm only doing this because Hiroshi is doing this," Sora scowled.

_The next day_

" Sensei's late," Sora scowled.

" He's not. We still have 20 more minutes," Hiroshi remarked.

The three genins arrived back in their old academy classroom, waiting patiently for their sensei to arrive. Since it was a written exam, they had even purposely came half an hour early as so to not miss anything and get their brain psyched up for the exam. Sora was very impatient. She could never sit still in one place for more than 10 minutes, and by 15 minutes, she had a habit of starting to complain about things. Hiroshi and Ryouta merely watched her in mild amusement, watching her hilariously pace up and down the classroom.

" Well, he should arrive early," Sora said.

" And so I am here," Shikamaru said, sliding the door of their classroom open. He had a small file in his hand. " Well, please sit as far as possible as possible from each other. I'll begin the test shortly after I read out the rules that apply for this test."

Ryouta, Hiroshi and Sora went up to their respective places and sat down, Hiroshi nervously twiddling his thumbs wondering what was about to come up.

" Now, for the rules: I'll give you 10 minutes to read the paper before we start. Also, some questions will need you to actually get out of the classroom to find out, so depending on whoever chooses first, I'll allot 20 minutes for you to get out of the classroom to find the answer for that question. Don't worry, I'll know whether you are cheating or not. Yes, no cheating allowed.," Shikamaru said, as he walked around the classroom to pass out the exam papers.

" One final rule: since I already said only a third of you genins will pass, only a third of this team will pass this exam. This means only one of you will pass this exam. The other two that fail will go back to the academy," Shikamaru replied.

There was a palpable moment of silence, before both Hiroshi and Sora jumped up from their seats and yelled " What?!"

_Writer's note: Well...finally, another update after so long. I'm busy trying to finish my other fanfic, so don't expect updates for this one anytime soon. _

_I just wanted someone from Naruto's group to lead the new team. Wasn't too hard to pick, really. Nobody in team 8 really struck me as leader material, with the exception of Shino, but then again Shino will be hard to write with that expressionless face of his. Nobody from team 7 was suitable: Sasuke might be missing, Sakura is...dunno, and Naruto just isn't leader material. Not sure about Tenten, and using Lee as a sensei would be roughly equivalent to making another Maito Gai. Neji and Shikamaru were my best choices, but then Neji was too stoic, so I picked Shikamaru instead, although I think it will be difficult to try and emulate his character in my fanfic. _


	3. Chapter 2: The Genin Qualification Exam

**Chapter 2: The Genin Qualification Examination**

" I'm sure it was stated in your medical records somewhere that none of you are even remotely deaf, so I'm pretty sure you all heard what I said just now. Just to repeat myself: Only one of you from the three of you will pass this test," Shikamaru replied. " To be more specific, the maximum number of people passing this test will be one, so incidentally it is also possible that none of you can actually pass if none of you pass the prerequisite of the test."

" Hey, then what was the point in sending us in teams of three? Why not take this darn test altogether with everyone else?!" Sora demanded.

" This is my personal test. Each team allocated to their jounin senseis will have their own personal test that is totally different from mine. This is my test, and you will sit for it. The rules aren't that difficult to understand. Besides, whether you get the whole class here or not, the chance is still 33 percent, so it doesn't make any difference anyway," Shikamaru answered sternly.

" I'm going to fail…" Hiroshi mumbled.

Shikamaru gave them a smile. " Well, it sure is troublesome, isn't it?" he said. He tossed them a pencil each and an eraser, which they all caught deftly. " I'll allow you to read your paper in 10 minutes time. Please wait for the exam until then, and please refrain from talking."

Sora folded her hands and leaned back on the chair, grumbling. " Tch, I'm not failing, I'm not failing, I'm not failing, I'm not failing…" she mumbled over and over again.

Hiroshi figured it was the most antagonising 10 minute wait ever. He had conveniently seated himself at the back of the class, and he had a good view of Sora and Ryouta who were seated in front of him, Sora on his left and Ryouta on his right respectively. _Only one of us is passing this exam…definitely not me!_

" You may turn your paper over and read them now," Shikamaru said.

They all turned the paper over and started to read then at once. Hiroshi's eyes scanned the paper. It covered a wide array of topics: setting traps, ninjutsu, history and equipments, half of which he could not even answer. However, there were three things that caught his eye on this unusual test.

One of it was question 13 which said: On a first come first serve basis, you will be given twenty minutes from the entire time of the test to go to the large sakura tree located at the end of the market district of the village. Write down in the blank what you see there.

Next was a statement before question 18, which said: Questions 18 to 20 must be answered. Failure to do so will result it failure in the exam.

Lastly as the questions 18 to 20:

18.) State the names of both of your team mates' parents?

19.) State both of your team mates' favourite book.

20.) State both of your team mates' date of the last visit to the administration office.

_Is this supposed to even make sense?!_ Ryouta thought to himself. There was no way he could answer the last three questions, unless he was real close with both of them, or he asked them personally, which wouldn't make sense, since only one person could pass. Also, would passing such information across the area would be dangerous, since it was considered cheating, not to mention it was one jounin watching three young genins. It would be obvious who was about to cheat.

" Gad darn it, God darn it, God darn it, God darn it…" Sora muttered over and over again. " Why did we get one crazy sensei?"

Hiroshi read the paper over and over again, making sure he wasn't mistaken. The questions were there, printed on the paper. He then attempted to think about it. _There is some trick to this question…didn't he say he was confident we would all pass? But this was insane…_

_This is one funny test. To pass it would require us to help each other, yet we can't help each other due to the rules that have been set. _Ryouta thought.

" You have one more minute before you start. Before that, I would like to announce another rule," Shikamaru suddenly piped up.

" Oh no…"

" The person who goes out first and second respectively to answer question 13 will have to only answer the last three questions about their team mate who exits the last," Shikamaru said all of a sudden. " Now, who is going out first?"

-

Hiroshi sighed, wondering what to do. Along the way to his destination, he looked at the paper again. He could answer a total of 5 questions, not including the 4 ambiguous questions Shikamaru had set. Even by some chance he could find the answer for the last three questions, there was no way he could even score enough points in the rest of them.

The sakura tree in question wasn't too hard to find, and it wasn't too far away from the academy anyway. Hiroshi walked up to the tree and looked around, wondering what he was supposed to actually find. It was to his amazement that he spotted a black chalkboard at the base of the tree, along with a single piece of chalk.

_Is this what I'm supposed to see?_ Hiroshi thought to himself. Indeed, the chalkboard was out of place, but why a chalkboard?

Hiroshi wrote down on the words 'chalkboard with chalk' on his piece of paper and walked away. However, he stopped after taking a few steps. He walked back to the tree, squatting down and looking at the chalkboard. It was really irregular indeed, unless perhaps Shikamaru wanted him to write something down here.

" But write what?" he asked himself. If this board was left here for him to write something, what exactly was he supposed to write? He never specified anything. Wait, did that mean he could actually write anything? If so, what would he write?

Hiroshi was suddenly struck with something really brilliant. Yes, why not? After all, he figured he was about the fail anyway, so what was the point anyway in not writing? It wasn't as if he wanted any ill feelings to Sora or Hiroshi. After all, both of them will be coming here and seeing this board anyway. Grinning to himself, he picked up the piece of chalk and wrote on the board.

-

" I'm back," Hiroshi exclaimed as he entered the classroom 2 minutes before time.

" Take your seat and keep quiet. The test is still on," Shikamaru reminded him. Hiroshi nodded and went back quickly to his original seating place. Sora eyed him curiously. _He looks pretty joyful. What did he actually see?_

" Who is up next?" Shikamaru asked.

-

" You can't be fucking serious?!" Sora yelled, making everyone in the vicinity turn around and look at who had suddenly exclaimed loudly all of a sudden. Sora couldn't believe her eyes. " How could he write this? Is he even aware of what this test is all about?!"

She scowled at what he wrote. " This is not going to help me at all, it's only going to help Ryouta. And why in the world should I help him? Hell, I want him to fail!" she exclaimed, mainly to herself. Then she sighed, sitting back down on the grassy floor that surrounded the tree.

" Hmm, perhaps I should just write it down at any rate…" Sora groaned, picking up the piece of chalk and scribbling something down on the chalkboard. " That bastard better buy me another dinner tonight…"

-

Sora returned to the classroom, looking a bit gloomy. She then proceeded to sit down on her seat and bury her head in her arms on her desk. Ryouta eyed her carefully, wondering what was up. He also noted that Hiroshi was acting strangely. He looked like he was done with the test. Ryouta figured that was impossible. There was one cryptographic question that he couldn't even answer, and if he himself had no ability to answer that question, there was no chance in hell Hiroshi could figure it out.

" You're up next, Ryouta," Shikamaru replied.

-

" What is this?" Ryouta asked himself, seeing the chalkboard which Hiroshi and Sora had written upon. He understood the words they had written down, and he understood what they meant very well. The only thing was he didn't understand why they wrote them down.

" Hahaha…" Ryouta said, laughing. " Fine, Sora, dinner will be on me tonight once more."

-

" Time's up. Drop your pencils and wait for me to collect your papers," Shikamaru said. The three of them dropped their pencils. Shikamaru walked around the room, taking their papers. Sora and Hiroshi immediately got up, ready to leave, but Shikamaru suddenly said " Hey, where in the world do you two think you are going?"

" Um, isn't the exam over?" Hiroshi asked.

" I haven't graded you yet," Shikamaru said.

" But I failed!"

" My, that was a quick response. Sit down. You can leave when I'm done grading you," Shikamaru said. Sora and Hiroshi looked at each other puzzled, wondering what was up. However, they both returned to their seats obediently.

Shikamaru went up to the desk and took a look at their answers. It merely took him 5 minutes. He then looked up at Ryouta, holding two pieces of papers.

" Now, Ryouta, I need you to answer me these questions, since I don't rightly know the answer. You don't have parents correct?" Shikamaru asked.

" Yes, I'm an orphan," Ryouta replied.

" Explains the blanks in their answers…now, you don't have a favourite book, do you?" Shikamaru asked.

Ryouta wondered what was going on here, then it hit him immediately. How should he answer the question then?

" Um…no?" he replied.

" Never been to the administration office before?" Shikamaru replied.

" Nope…"

" Well, congratulations," Shikamaru replied, tossing the two pieces of paper aside, and made a scene lighting his cigarette. Puffing out a large cloud of smoke, he then replied " You all passed the exam. You are now officially the genins of Team 3. Starting tomorrow, we will be starting our missions!"

" Hey, I thought you said 1 person could only pass!" Hiroshi replied.

" Well, that rule was set for the purpose of the test," Shikamaru said " Do any of you know what was the true purpose of the test was? Surely not intelligence. I will never measure a strength and ability of a shinobi by intelligence alone." From the blank looks of the three of them, he figured that they were not sure.

" The concept of this test was pride," Shikamaru answered.

" How'd that come about?" Sora asked, raising her eyebrows.

" With the rules I have set, if you had followed them strictly, meant that only one of you will pass. However, none of you will actually pass if you don't help each other. Of course, there comes the choice: whether to help your friends, or to merely drag them down with you. If none of you decided to share your personal information, all of you will fail anyway," Shikamaru answered.

" Hey, wait a minute, how'd you know we shared personal information with Ryouta?!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" It doesn't need me to think too much on what exactly you two wrote on that board," Shikamaru replied.

" But, for the last three questions…" Ryouta started.

" It didn't really matter. I'm sure I just wrote down that all you need to do was 'answer' them. I'm sure I didn't specify anywhere that you had to 'answer them correctly'. My final questions directed to you were just a test to see whether you were willing to return the favour to your friends," Shikamaru answered.

" Sometimes, to do what is the best for everyone in general, we have to be willing to sacrifice what we deem in important to us. If you had adhered to the rules, there would be one genin among you three, and an extra shinobi would bolster our forces. You were all willing to at least give your team mate the ability to advance forward, even though it was disadvantageous to you. Sometimes moves like these must be played. I'm glad you guys know what was really important," Shikamau replied.

" Yes! Yes! Hahaha! I passed! I passed this God damned exam!" Hiroshi yelled at the top of his voice, rolling on the floor laughing.

" Hey now, my exam wasn't that bad," Shikamaru replied.

" Sensei, you lousy piece of shit!" Sora exclaimed, leaping at Shikamaru exclaimed, wanting to punch him. Nobody really knew whether she was doing it playfully or out of some spite, but Shikamaru wasn't going to test her.

" Hey, I bet you guys are hungry from me making you all nervous. How about a BBQ lunch? My treat, of course," Shikamaru replied, raising his hands in defence.


	4. Chapter 3: To the Sand

**Chapter 3: To the Sand**

" Yeow!" Hiroshi exclaimed as a bandit slammed his katana hard upon him. He barely made it in time as he drew his hand up, kunai in his hand. The kunai and the katana hit each other, sparks flying slightly. The large burly bandit tried to push his blade down, but Hiroshi was trained in the arts of the shinobi, which made him far more superior than the bandit, despite the age gap between them.

He flipped his blade aside, the katana missing his head as he made a quick sidestep. He then launched a quick kick on the bandit's chest, knocking him backwards. He leaped up high and dropped down hard, kneeing the man in his ribs. The bandit groaned slightly, then fainted. Breathing a sigh of relief, Hiroshi turned around to take a look at how his friends were faring.

" I've knocked out eight of them!" Sora exclaimed, pointing a finger at Ryouta.

" Ah, so close…I managed twelve of them," Ryouta replied sheepishly.

" Argh! This can't be! Sensei, why didn't you steal some of Ryouta's scores?!" Sora demanded.

" What? You said it yourself that despite being a C-class mission, it wasn't enough of a challenge for you skills. If I had joined in, you would have complained to Hokage-sama again that this was come really crappy mission she gave you all," Shikamaru replied, sighing. He had seated himself on a branch of a nearby tree and allowed his students to go wild, literally, on the bandits.

" And indeed it is! I mean, we are shinobi! We should be pitted against other shinobi! Bandits are below my level. I shouldn't even be looking at them at any rate!" Sora replied. " Sensei, for the last few months we have been taking too much C-ranked missions that are far too easy. I demand that we get a B-rank mission the next time."

" You know I can't do that, unless we get special permission from the Hokage or it is some emergency. Other than that, B-rank missions are mainly reserved for Chuunin level shinobi, not genin," Shikamaru replied.

" Yeah, and I don't have much skill either!" Hiroshi piped up.

" Hiroshi, you arse! Pick up the pace then!" Sora yelled.

" How?" Hiroshi asked, looking down at the bandit he had just knocked out. It was the one of the three bandits he had managed to take out when they raided their camp. Compared to his friends, he was pretty weak. Hiroshi never had much confidence in improving his skills drastically. He was not like a genius like Ryouta, nor did he have the drive like Sora.

All of a sudden, he felt someone pat him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw his sensei standing right next to him.

" Listen, you are you, your team mates are your team mates. Never compare yourself with them, you will never shine that way. We have things we are talented in, and for our flaws, we have our friends to fill them up for us," Shikamaru replied, smiling. Hiroshi smiled back, feeling much better.

" Well, since it's pretty early, why don't we head back and continue with some training? I'm sure all of us could use a good dose of improvement in our skills," Shikamaru suggested.

" Bah, I'm already good enough…" Sora replied arrogantly.

" Not as good as me though," Ryouta laughed.

All of a sudden a kunai suddenly flew in his direction, but Ryouta's reflexes were lightning fast, his hands were up within the second, the kunai stuck between his fingers. He looked curiously at Sora, who had thrown it at his face, looking rather pissed.

" Arrogant bastard, you want to test that?" Sora asked, snarling.

" Well, a warm up match wouldn't hurt, no?" Ryouta said, laughing. " Sensei, permission to have a match."

Shikamaru sighed. " I don't think my permission even matters," he said.

" Damn right!" Sora yelled, leaping at Ryouta at a high speed. Ryouta managed to raise his hands just in time to block Sora's legs from making contact with his face, his hands absorbing the impact. Her other leg flew in from another direction, but Ryouta dropped his body just in time to avoid the hit. Ryouta rolled back, trying to make himself some space in his fight.

Sora wasn't going to allow that. Her previous experiences told her Ryouta was an expert in ninjutsu, and as soon as he had some ground to cover, he could easily overcome her with his skills in ninjutsu. Sora was confident she could beat him in taijutsu anytime, so she close the distance between him and her quickly.

" Leaf Whirlwind Kick," she exclaimed, spinning her body around, bringing her legs right at Ryouta's chest. This skill allowed her legs to fly at an incredible speed, and it would take him at least two hands to hold the attack, that is considering he decided to block it instead of dodging it. Sora's speed was usually faster than Ryouta's ability to dodge anyway.

However, Ryouta leaped up, kicking his legs forward to meet Sora's. He felt the jolt of the impact, and since he was in mid-air, he was unable to stop himself from flying backwards. However, before that happened, his hands started to form seals immediately, and he was done in less than a second.

_Shit!_ Sora thought. She dropped herself on the ground immediately and kicked her feet to launch herself aside just in time as Ryouta launched a powerful breath of fire in her direction, the heat stinging her skin even though she had leaped away in time. She skidded for a second, before he eye saw that Ryouta had suddenly disappeared from the field of battle.

Her legs felt slight tremors from below the ground, and she leaped up in the air just in time as a pair of hands emerged from the ground where she stood a second ago. She flicked her weapon pack and threw a couple of shurikens at his direction. It hit the emerging body, which burst in a cloud of smoke when hit.

'A bunshin?' she thought. Several shurikens few into her direction. She flipped in mid-air, avoiding all the attacks, sustaining only a few superficial cuts here and there. Landing on the floor, she spotted his figure somewhere to the left, his hands in a flurry of seals.

" Wind release: Wind Shell Bullet!" Ryouta thought, clasping his hands together as he took a deep breath. All of a sudden, he released an amount of chakra from his mouth, and the chakra expended itself when shot out. A powerful wave of wind blasted itself in Sora's direction, ripping the ground to shreds.

Sora leaped aside, only to be greeted by a windmill shuriken flying her in the direction she was moving towards. Not being able to block it properly with a weapon, she merely deflected it with her hand, slamming her fist upon the spinning blade, shattering the blades apart and sending them all over the place at the cost of cutting her fingers badly. As he tried to force the pain out of her mind, she suddenly felt the sensation of cold steel being pressed upon her neck. Ryouta had managed to use the distraction to get behind her, and had a kunai pressed against her neck.

" I win…" Ryouta said, grinning. " Again!"

" Pompous jackass, I'll get you next time!" Sora replied, snarling menacingly.

" I'm sure you will," Ryouta said smiling at her.

A pair of hands came up and separated them. " Now, now, there is no need to be so heated. Look, I think you are terrifying Hiroshi with your fight. He seems to be shaking in fright," Shikamaru said.

" Hey, sensei! I was just shaking in excitement in seeing such a spectacular match!" Hiroshi honestly replied.

" My, you are making me blush," Ryouta laughed, scratching his head. Turning to Sora, he said " Sorry about your hand, are you alright?"

" I'm fine…" she said, snarling at him as she started to tie a bandage around her fingers. The wound she received wasn't very bad, and the bleeding stopped as soon as she tightly bandaged herself. " I'm not a sissy, so there is absolutely no need for you to need to care about me."

_Why does this woman need to be so uptight with this guy?!_ Shikamaru thought.

" Let's get back alright. If you all want to kill each other, I'd like it to be within a kilometre radius of a nearby hospital, just in case," Shikamaru said.

---

" Welcome back, Shikamaru," one of the guards said, waving at him. Shikamaru lazily waved back, lighting another cigarette as he entered the main gates with his team, with Sora leading the front, Ryouta calming walking in the middle next to him and Hiroshi tagging along by the back.

He took a moment to consider his really eccentric team. There was the top student of their year, Ryouta, who's ninjustsu skills were beyond genin level at any rate. He was already able to use all types of elemental ninjutsu, except for water based ninjutsu, but it probably won't take long for him to pick up the basics. He always had this calm exterior, always smiling, yet within that smile was a maelstrom ready to break loose.

Sora however, was one of the most violent people he had ever met. Indeed, she was very strong for a female kunoichi, and her strength was enormous. She had the strength of Rock Lee and the violence of Sakura combined, which Shikamaru figured, was a very troublesome combination. She was always looking for some way to release her pent-up anger that kept boiling within her. A natural fighter no doubt, but she lacked self-control.

Hiroshi meanwhile was the timid one in the group. He never stood out, had nothing spectacular, and preferred if his friends took the spotlight. So far, Shikamaru had not seen anything spectacular coming from him. His taijutsu was below average, he was bad in ninjutsu and he had no skill in genjustsu. His only skill was using shinobi equipment, and setting up traps, and making weird contraptions once in a while. Shikamaru felt that Hiroshi was giving himself less credit than he actually deserves.

" Alright, I need to report back to Hokage-sama for a while. Why don't you all go keep yourself busy while I make my report?" Shikamaru suggested.

" Eh, why are you not going to stay with us?!" Sora exclaimed.

" Oh come on now, I'm your sensei, not your parent. Don't bug me too much now," Shikamaru replied, taking a different path.

" Aw man, I'd wish he'd stick around longer. I'm hoping he'd teach some awesome jutsu to us," Sora voiced her thoughts.

" He has nothing particular to teach you, since he doesn't use taijutsu that much," Ryouta replied.

" Hey, I do know some ninjutsu as well. Are you looking down on me?" Sora scowled.

" Hey, we have just finished one sparring match. I don't think I'm ready for another, alright? Let's just have some practice before Shikamaru sensei comes back. Come, let's go find an empty training area and start. We can help Hiroshi train," Ryouta said.

" Eh, help me? Why?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Well, you said you were weak, so we have to train you up, or else the old Hokage-sama is going to give us more crappy C-Class missions again. Come on, Sora and I are good enough to hold our own. We'll teach you now so that you can learn to watch our backs next time," Ryouta replied.

---

" So, how was the mission this time?" Tsunade asked.

" My students are complaining that even the C-rank missions are getting too easy," Shikamaru sighed. " This is pretty obvious why, since they are basically D-rank missions after all."

" Hmm, indeed...well, how are you finding your time as a teacher?" she asked.

" I swear this is one of your methods of torturing me, right, because of the previous incident? Because honestly, it's really troublesome this time," Shikamaru replied, sighing.

" Perhaps, but I may have a preposition for your team, if they are interested," Tsunade suggested.

" I'm listening..."

---

" Now listen here, Hiroshi, to excel in taijutsu, you must be physically fit. You must run around the village at least once a day, if not your punches will be totally pathetic to your opponents, especially me," Sora said as soon as all three of them reached one of the empty training grounds.

" Sora, please, don't make Hiroshi wet his pants," Ryouta advised.

" Like hell I wet my pants!" Hiroshi exclaimed in one of his few rare outbursts.

" You should know that was just a figure of speech," Ryouta replied.

" How about using elemental jutsus like you did?" Hiroshi suggested.

" Hmm, perhaps...what's your elemental affinity?" Ryouta asked.

" My what?!"

" Elemental affinity, that means what elements among the basic five can you use very well, or the element you are good at using," Sora answered on Ryouta's behalf.

" Hmm...I don't rightly know...how would you know such stuff?" Hiroshi asked.

Ryouta flipped out a piece of blank paper and handed it to Hiroshi. " Hold that using your fingers and charge your chakra into the piece of paper. This is a special piece of paper that tells the users chakra type. Watch," Ryouta replied, taking out another piece of paper. The instant he held it in his fingers, the paper suddenly burnt to crisp.

" Cool..." Hiroshi replied, channelling his chakra into his hands. The paper immediately snapped into two pieces. Hiroshi looked at it quizzically, wondering what was up. " What does this mean?"

" It means your elemental affinity is wind," Sora sighed. " Did you learn nothing at all in class?

" Excellent. Since believe that you have no inkling on how to even perform ninjutsu, I'll teach you directly. Hmm, what's an easy wind jutsu...ah, how about the 'Wind release: Wind Bullet'? It's a low level jutsu where you collect chakra in your mouth and expel it out. Hand seals are as follows," Ryouta said, slowly forming the hand seals for Hiroshi to see. Taking a shallow yet quick breath, he expelled it suddenly. There was some quick movement of air coming out of his mouth, and all of a sudden, it hit the grassy floor with a bang, making a small crater in the middle of the ground. " It's pretty effective, and the level of damage the jutsu allows depends on the amount of chakra you put in, although there is a limit. It can't kill anyone even at maximum strength, but it can knock people off their feet and deal some damage."

" Awesome," Hiroshi replied, forming the seals Ryouta had shown him. Compressing chakra in his mouth, he focused hard and expelled it in one go. All that came out was his breath at a very high speed.

" Um...no talent, I guess..." Sora sighed.

" Don't worry about it. The same thing happened on my first try," Ryouta said encouragingly. " But really, you will need some decent talent in order to pass the academy. What are you really good at?"

Hiroshi turned a shade of red slightly, his eyes looking shiftily around. " Promise you won't tell anyone?" he asked.

" What? You can't really have some kind of skill that is actually embarrassing?!" Sora exclaimed.

Hiroshi dug his pack and took out a scroll. Rolling it out, he bit his finger and drew his blood on the scroll, unsealing the item inside. Ryouta and Sora took a good look at what Hiroshi had produced. It looked like an unusual pair of gloves, the exterior made of leather fortified with steel, which also had what looked like a steel rectangular box attached to where the arm was supposed to be, like a very thick and large arm guard.

" And what is this supposed to be?" Sora asked.

To answer her question, Hiroshi wore one of the gloves on his right hand. He took out another scroll from is pack and opened the steel box on his hand. It was an empty compartment inside where it looked like it was supposed to slot in two scrolls. Hiroshi inserted one of the scrolls inside and closed the lid of the box. He then flung his hand, and all of a sudden, a kunai flipped out of nowhere, which he caught as it spun around in mid-air.

" It's a very convenient weapon box?" Sora asked.

Hiroshi aimed his hand towards the ground, and tightened his grip on his gloves. There was a whizzing sound in the air, and all of a sudden, there were three kunais stuck to the ground where he pointed his arm towards.

" Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, picking up one of the kunais.

" It's a pretty intricate device, where I can store scrolls containing weapons inside and then unseal them out at will. It's not perfect yet, as it jams after a couple of shots, but I'm working on fixing its flaws right now," Hiroshi said, scratching his head.

" Well, I must say, at least you are putting your brain in good use to be able to come up with such an intriguing contraption. This thing is awesome," Ryouta replied, picking up the other remaining glove and taking a closer look, opening the hatch. It had a pretty intricate design on the inside, possibly to facilitate shooting out projectiles at high speeds once taken out.

" Hey, don't tell me you actually took this and used it on your final examination with Iruka. Is this why he passed you?" Sora asked. Hiroshi merely nodded.

" What's that?" their sensei's voice suddenly picked up.

" Ah! Sensei!" Hiroshi exclaimed, picking up his equipment and attempted to hide it behind his back.

" Hey now, if you dare to make it, you should be brave enough to show it. Are you going to lose to an enemy because you are too embarrassed to even display your weapons?" Shikamaru sighed.

" That was quick sensei. I didn't even feel you approach us," Sora said.

" Hey, I'm not a jounin for nothing, alright?" Shikamaru replied, scratching his head.

" But I never seen you do anything remotely…jounin like," Sora remarked, pouting.

" What? You mean a display of skill? Nah, I'm not into flashy stuff like powerful jutsus and all that, although my family skill is already good enough for me," Shikamaru answered.

" What?! Just one jutsu?!" Sora exclaimed. " You can't seriously tell me that as a jounin you only specialise in one type of jutsu!?"

" Alright, my jutsu has multiple variations, and it also can have multiple uses depending on how I control it, but yes, it's basically only one jutsu. It has served me well for 8 years now, and I don't see any difference it would make to not continue to use it," Shikamaru replied.

" Show us," Sora said, folding her arms, not trusting her sensei for having one crappy jutsu she had never seem before.

" What for? That's so troublesome. Besides, I came here not to show you my techniques, but to ask you whether you would like to accept an invitation to stay in the Sand village for a while," Shikamaru replied.

" Eh? We are going to the Sand? Why?" Hiroshi asked.

" Well, Hokage-sama is in the opinion that you three are doing pretty well lately, so as a reward, she is offering the chance for you all to stay in the Sand village for a while. Since we are good allies with the Sand, we have some trips for the genins to work within different villages, to learn new techniques and strengthen bonds. It will be for a couple of months, and I assume it will be quite fun," Shikamaru replied.

" Yes! This is awesome! I'm changed my mind about you, sensei! You are awesome!" Sora said, leaping up to him and giving him a hug.

" Whoa, hey, get off me, darn it! Wasn't that what you said three times for the last week?" Shikamaru groaned, trying to pry her hands off his neck. " Well, what about you guys?"

" I assume it will be a good idea. I'm interested in mixing with the Sand's genins. But, what about our missions?" Ryouta asked.

" Relax, we will be getting missions as usual. After all, we do have missions that reach out overseas, so we will be mobilised when Hokage-sama needs us for anything around the Sand village, of course with some help from the Sand ninjas as well. Of course, the Kazekage will hand out some missions to us as well, so we will need to perform several missions for the sand."

" Sounds just about right," Ryouta grinned happily. " Hiroshi?"

" Well…I guess we could use a vacation of a sort," he answered back. Sora had still not let go of Shikamaru's neck as of yet, and she was hanging like some large doll on him as he tried to get her off.

_Writer's note: Haven't updated in a while since I'm busy finishing my other fanfic, so sorry about that. _

_Also, I'm not very proficient_ _in the Japanese language, so I'll keep most names, skills and jutsus in English, since it will be a pain in the rear end to type down their names in Japanese, which I don't know half of them, and also, since I'll be randomly adding custom jutsus, it'll be easier if I just named them in English. I'm not going to bother with -kun or -chan (not too sure how to use them actually), but I'll still stick with -sama for addressing elders or people who deserve some respect._


	5. Chapter 4: Departure

**Chapter 4: Departure**

Hiroshi continued to tweak his weapon with a screwdriver on his 'Weapon launcher', his name for the new weapon glove he had shown his friends earlier. It was late at night, but he was still up working on fixing the flaws in his creation. He had a torchlight in his mouth to light up the area to that he could see what he was fiddling with.

Using a spanner, he slowly started to place things back in place. There was a resounding click, and Hiroshi pressed a trigger somewhere. There was a lovely whirling sound that made him smile. Attaching back all the pieces, he inserted a scroll inside and equipped it in his left arm, clenching his fist as he took aim at a small board in his room. Two shurikens were immediately shot out, and they struck the board will a dull thud. He smiled happily; glad his 'contraption' was working perfectly. Now, all he needed to do was to test it out.

He looked at the clock. The time showed him that it was close to 12 midnight now, a tad bit too late for some practice, but he was leaving with his team tomorrow. Hiroshi would prefer to know whether his weapon was functional or not when they leave tomorrow.

He opened the window of his small house, before recoiling due to the chilling wind that started to blow inside all of a sudden. Hiroshi started shivering all of a sudden. Tumbling towards his wardrobe, he started to rummage through all his clothing until he found a nice, thick windbreaker to wear. Finished dressing up, he jumped out of the window and broke off into a jog towards the nearest training grounds from his house.

However, it seemed that Hiroshi wasn't the only one who had ideas to come out at night today. Hiroshi immediately spotted Ryouta sitting by the fence at the training grounds, swinging his legs as if he was waiting for something. The sound of running feet brought attention to Ryouta on Hiroshi's presence.

" Hey, what are you doing so late at night?" Ryouta asked.

" I think I'm allowed to ask the same question as well," Hiroshi replied.

" I'm waiting for midnight to come," Ryouta answered.

" Why?" Hiroshi asked.

" I just feel like it," Ryouta replied. Hiroshi raised his eyebrows, not too sure what Ryouta was getting at. Seeing Hiroshi's expression, Ryouta attempted to explain.

" I'm not too sure why, Hiroshi, but years ago, possibly long before I could remember, the moment midnight arrives feels almost magical to me. There is the silence of the night, the quiet serenity and absolute bliss no other time could ever bring. I've always made it a point to come here every single time midnight comes," Ryouta answered.

" What so different about other times in the night?" Hiroshi asked.

" Midnight is different. Come, sit here and wait for a while. It's coming soon. Perhaps you will understand," Ryouta suggested. Having nothing really to lose, Hiroshi hopped on the fence next to him and waited, looking at his watch. There was just less than a minute left.

Hiroshi patiently waited, looking in the sky, where the stars were twinkling in the dark night. Indeed, the night sky was beautiful, along with the bright crescent moon against the midnight blue background, but what really was so fantastic about midnight that Ryouta seemed to anticipate so much.

" Did you feel it?" Ryouta asked. Hiroshi took a look at his watch. A minute had passed after midnight.

" Nope…what exactly was I supposed to feel?" Hiroshi asked, feeling weird.

" Hmm…never mind, perhaps I'm just slightly eccentric in a way. Perhaps it was something that happened before I was born. It's probably an unanswerable question," Ryouta replied. " I must be boring you with my talk."

" Not at all…whatever floats your boat," Hiroshi replied grinning.

" What are you here for anyway?" Ryouta asked.

Hiroshi held up his weapon launcher in his hands. " I'm here to test this piece of junk before we leave. I've done the necessary adjustments to it, and I believe it should work pretty well by now. I'd like to make sure it's functional by the time we leave tomorrow," he answered.

" That's a bit of a rush. Why don't you take your time?" Ryouta suggested.

" Nah, I'd like to have something to show when we reach the Sand village," Hiroshi said.

" Hahaha, well then, so you should. Come, I'll help you set up the boards for you to throw at," Ryouta said, leaping off the fence.

It took him several minutes to set up several target boards around the area. Hiroshi stood in the middle of the boards, looking around. He had equipped his weapon, and slotted two scrolls each into each of his weapon launchers. There was a whirl and a click, signifying the weapon was armed and ready.

" Alright, let's go!" Ryouta exclaimed.

Hiroshi aimed both launchers at once at two different targets, his fingers pulling the minute trigger within the mechanism. Shurikens flew out from his left while kunais shot out through his right, flying out through the slots in his launchers at a slightly faster speed than it would take for one to actually throw them. His shots were not perfect, but most of them hit the target boards anyway, with a couple flying off in unwanted directions.

Aiming at one of the boards, he then started firing needles at it, and soon enough after several seconds, the target board was poked with at least a hundred needles. He threw his hands up, and he flipped out two windmill shurikens. Attaching them to the top of his launchers, he took aim and fired, ripping a target board to shreds.

" Wow, that was awesome. With this weapon, you can at least decently fight now," Ryouta laughed out loud, coming out from where he was standing some distance away earlier to avoid getting hit. Hiroshi smiled, then started laughing along with Ryouta.

" Perhaps…I guess…" he chuckled.

" What do you actually keep in there?" Ryouta asked.

" I have a total of four scrolls altogether. Right now, one contains needles, another shurikens and one more containing kunais. The last contains an assortment of weapons, like the windmill shurikens, katanas, blades, shinobi equipment and all that," Hiroshi answered happily, seeing Ryouta was visibly impressed by his weapon.

" So, now you are our emergency weapon supplier," Ryouta replied.

" Pretty much," Hiroshi replied.

" Great, now I want to test something a bit. Do you mind if you help me?" Ryouta asked.

" Anything, Ryouta," Hiroshi answered.

" Fire a windmill shuriken at me," Ryouta answered.

Hiroshi figured he heard that wrongly, but somehow his brain seem to think otherwise. " Ryouta?"

" I'm serious. Don't worry, it's just to test out something," Ryouta answered calmly.

" Hey, for some testing, it's pretty dangerous, you know," Hiroshi replied, sounding worried. " What if you get hit?"

" I won't," Ryouta replied confidently.

" Sure you are not going to change your mind?" Hiroshi asked, whipping out a windmill shuriken and attaching it to his launcher. Ryouta merely nodded, bracing himself. Hiroshi then aimed at Ryouta and fired the shuriken. The large, four blade weapon flew towards Ryouta at a high speed.

However, Ryouta suddenly whipped out something, his hand flying in an arc as the weapon almost hit his face. Hiroshi's eyes widened in surprise as a blade suddenly appeared out of nowhere, smashing the shuriken aside, hitting a nearby target board, the sound of metal hitting against metal ringing loudly in the air. Hiroshi spotted Ryouta holding a short blade in his hands.

" What the hell is that?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Oh, a nice short shinobi sword I picked up somewhere. I was planning on testing it out in combat, so I figured I could bring it along during our trip there," Ryouta said. " Hey, how about a spar right now?"

" You have to be out of your mind. We are leaving tomorrow, it's the middle of the night. What if we get ourselves pretty badly beaten up?" Hiroshi asked.

" Relax, I'll go easy on you. Besides, it's good to at least test our new weapons, no?" Ryouta asked.

Hiroshi sighed, not sure what to say. " Well, fine, but just for a while and don't beat me up too badly in the process, okay?" Hiroshi asked. Ryouta merely nodded.

Hiroshi fired several shurikens in Ryouta's direction, which Ryouta promptly knocked all of them aside with his sword. Twisting his foot, he aimed himself at Hiroshi and ran immediately towards him, his blade raised. Hiroshi quickly fired a single kunai towards Ryouta, which he deflected easily.

However, the kunai was attached to a smoke bomb, so the kunai immediately erupted in a large ball of smoke. Ryouta winced slightly as a wall of smoke suddenly appeared right in front of him, engulfing him in a dark, purple cloud. His senses picked up sharp noises in the air, and he was quick to dodge the attack by bending down. He made quick hand seals in his hands, channeling his chakra to utilise wind to blow the smoke that surrounded him away. As soon as the wind cleared, he saw Hiroshi standing some distance away, right in front of him. He raised both his hands and his fingers twitched slightly.

Ryouta suddenly saw a windmill shuriken fly towards him on the right and several kunai's fly towards him from the left. It seems like Hiroshi had taken the time while Ryouta was in the smoke to set up his attack. Ryouta could vaguely see the some wires being attached to the weapons that came flying towards him. _Chakra lines, eh? _Ryouta thought. However, he was ready for it.

With superb reflexes, he whipped the kunais aside with his sword, and with expert precision, grabbed the windmill shuriken in mid-air, his hand forcing the weapon to a stop as he grabbed it. However, Hiroshi had other ideas as well.

His hands started to form seals, the exact same seals Ryouta had thought him this morning. " Wind release: Wind Bullet!"

All Hiroshi managed to expel was his own breath.

" What was that supposed to do?" Ryouta asked.

" Ah, crap..." Hiroshi sighed.

" A word of advice, Hiroshi-kun: Don't use a jutsu in a real battle unless you can execute it well enough," Ryouta laughed. Hiroshi merely stared at Ryouta as he continued to laughed at Hiroshi's failed attempt to use a jutsu. " Come now, don't feel bad. I'm sure you will get it...eventually. It's late now. Thanks for sparring with me, I just love some warm-up exercises in the middle of the night. Pretty refreshing, no?"

" If you say so," Hiroshi mused. Ryouta smiled, turning around to leave.

" Hey, Ryouta!" Hiroshi exclaimed loudly, making his team-mate turn around. " The next time you are out here waiting for midnight, mind if I come along?"

Ryouta looked at him, pretty surprised. It took a while before he smiled back, replying " I'd be glad to have some company besides the night."

Hiroshi grinned, before turning around, running back to his home.

---

_The next day_

" Hiroshi! Have you not been sleeping?!" Sora exclaimed.

" What gave you that idea?" Hiroshi asked, sounding tired.

" You look tired, your eyelids are dropping, your voice is weak, and you were up one hour later than normal. You do know that we are going off to the Sand village now right? What were you thinking?" Sora argued.

" I don't know what you are thinking about..." Hiroshi replied, feigning ignorance.

Sora then started to mutter under her breath darkly. She had gone to his house to wake him up, since they were supposed to leave pretty early, only to find him still sleeping in his bed. She promptly woke him up, roughly, and forced him out of the house in ten minutes. Hiroshi scratched his head as the both of them walked along the streets to meet at the front gate.

" Yo, you people are late!" Ryouta exclaimed cheerfully, seeing his team-mates. Shikamaru, who was lying down on the bench, looking at the sky, turned around to see Sora and Hiroshi approaching.

" Did you sleep late, Hiroshi?" Shikamaru asked, seeing Hiroshi's sleepy face.

" Aw, sucks...I just didn't sleep that well last night, alright?! Can we just leave it at that?!" Hiroshi exclaimed. It was obvious Hiroshi was lying, but Shikamaru wasn't going to press upon the topic. He slowly got up, yawning loudly and stretched himself.

" Alright, we will be leaving to the Sand right now. If we continue travelling without any trouble, we should be able to reach there in 3 days time if we don't run into any trouble. Have you all gotten your equipment ready? Our next stop after this will be the Sand village," Shikamaru replied in a bored fashion.

" Yeah, yeah, we are ready alright! We aren't kids, you know?" Sora exclaimed.

" You do know how ironic that sounds, right?' Shikamaru replied sarcastically.

" Shut up, sensei!" Sora exclaimed.

" Anyway, we should leave right now. Since we all ready, shall we go?" Shikamaru asked.

---

Minutes later, they were all leaping through the trees around the forest of the Fire country, with Sora as usual in the lead. The trip was pretty uneventful, besides the fact that Sora had been complaining all the way that it was a really boring trip. However, Ryouta and Hiroshi didn't think that way. This was after all, their first time actually leaving their country. Hiroshi was about as excited as he was nervous.

" So, what would we be basically doing there anyway?" Ryouta asked all of a sudden.

" Em, basic missions, but now it will be in the Sand village. Also, we will be meeting up with another genin team from the sand, so both teams can mingle and share information. We will possibly be working with them as well," Shikamaru replied, in a rather bored manner.

" Um, do you have your reservations about all this?" Hiroshi asked all of a sudden.

" What reservations? What gave you the idea that I dislike coming along?" Shikamaru asked.

" Well, for one, you look very bored, and also you don't seem interested in coming along," Hiroshi answered.

" Ah, well, allow me to answer your question. It's not that I don't fancy doing this, but really, I'm honestly a lazy bum. Going to another country is just too much of a pain in the rear end for me," Shikamaru admitted.

" Man, how can you be a jounin is a real surprise," Sora mused loudly, leaping off the branch of a tree to another even faster.

" Hey, show some respect, Sora!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Pfft, we haven't seen anything amazing from you yet, sensei. I heard that all the jounins of the village are actually pretty skilled, yet I've never seen you do anything jounin like. What a disappointment," Sora sighed. Ryouta chuckled under his breath.

" And how would you like me to change your mind?" Shikamaru asked. Hiroshi noticed that for the first time during their entire journey, Shikamaru grinned for once.

" Parry this then!" Sora exclaimed all of a sudden, slamming her foot hard on a large branch. She charged so much chakra to her feet the branch broke into splinters as she propelled herself in the opposite direction where she initially headed, flying at a tremendous speed back towards Shikamaru. Shikamaru raised his eyebrows in surprise for a second, then dropped his head several centimetres to avoid the spinning kick that was aimed for his face.

" Sora, are you nuts?!" Hiroshi exclaimed loudly, as both him and Ryouta stopped at where Sora landed. Shikamaru merely yawned and stretched his neck. Looking back at Sora, they noticed she seemed to be shaking slightly.

" Um, Sora?" Hiroshi asked.

" Damn it, I can't move at all…" she replied, gritting her teeth. Ryouta noticed she was actually shaking because she was straining her body as hard as possible to release herself in some way. Hiroshi and Ryouta's eyes widened in surprise. They were quite sure they didn't see their sensei perform anything, besides dodging the attack.

" Well, convinced that I can actually do something now?" Shikamaru asked, not bothering to turn around. Sora suddenly yelped as she lost her balance as the invisible bonds that held her to her place was suddenly released as she tried to free herself, but she quickly regained her balance. She turned around and glared at Shikamaru. " Hey, don't look at me like that. Remember, you challenged me first."

" Sensei, that was totally awesome! Teach me that jutsu!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" I can't. I don't really specialise in anything other than my family's secret techniques, so since you aren't of the Nara clan, I don't think I'm allowed to teach that to you. However, feel free to learn it by yourself, I won't stop you," Shikamaru replied. " Come now, we don't have all day. We have wasted enough time of me showing off my jutsus."

---

They continued for the rest of the day quietly until night approached. Sora had now stopped trying to complain about the journey already. Instead, she was now in a heated discussion on trying to figure out how in the world did Shikamaru suddenly stopped her in such a fashion.

" I still stick to my original idea that he did genjutsu," Hiroshi replied.

" It was not genjutsu. I think I bloody well know how the hell being stuck in a genjutsu is!" Sora hissed.

" Well, how did it actually feel like?" Ryouta piped up.

" Hmm…how should I phrase it. It was right after he dodged my attack. Sometime after I went flying over his head, I had already felt that there was something that had grabbed hold of my body. As soon as I landed, I was completely stuck. I was totally stuck, unable to move a muscle of my body," Sora explained.

" Technically, you still could move some muscles in your body if you could still speak," Ryouta replied.

" Shut up! You know very well what I meant!" Sora snarled.

" I still think he did some genjutsu," Hiroshi mused.

" What the heck are the shinobi from the Nara clan good in?" Sora mused, still unsatisfied that Shikamaru bested her in some unknown jutsu only his clan knew how to use.

" I do know that they rear a lot of deers, but I've never heard of them doing anything really outstanding or particular, unlike other more well known clans like the Hyuuga. But, I'm sure our sensei is pretty good, seeing how he could even execute a jutsu, without us seeing him form any seals, if he did form seals," Ryouta replied.

" Bah, the Hyuugas are a bunch of weak people. I've beaten a couple of them, and honestly, their supposedly 'supreme' taijutsu technique was nothing I couldn't beat using good old fashion melee combat," Sora bragged.

" Well, you must see who you were fighting against. I've heard Neji from the Hyuuga is one of the best shinobi we have in the village, having embodied all the skills from the Hyuuga clan and he became a jounin when he was 14," Ryouta said.

" What?! He became a jounin being just two years older than us?!" Hiroshi exclaimed. " Is the Hyuuga clan that great?"

" Their special technique is, which they call 'Gentle Fist'. It is a fighting style that they can call their own, and from what I heard, all they need to kill an enemy is just one touch on your chest," Ryouta replied.

" No way!" Hiroshi exclaimed in surprise.

" Ryouta, stop scaring Hiroshi. There is no such thing. All the Hyuuga's I fought were a bunch of weak guys…" Sora retorted, rolling her eyes.

" I'm telling the truth," Ryouta said, smiling. " Besides, there were no people form the Hyuuga clan from our year, and also whoever you fought were probably several years younger than you, so that doesn't count."

" Gee, I wish that I was from some clan," Hiroshi mused.

" There is no need to be from any clan in particular to be great, Hiroshi. Take a look at all the Hokages we used to have and have right now. None of them were from any clans, and besides the First, none of the others had any special bloodline abilities. Neither of us come from any special clan, but we are still special in our way," Ryouta said.

" There we go again, the optimistic speech," Sora muttered.

" What wrong with being optimistic? After all, I'm sure you will never yield to defeat in the hands of a Hyuuga, correct?" Ryouta remarked.

" Hell yeah, I'd die first before I lose to those losers!" Sora exclaimed loudly, punching her fist enthusiastically in the air.

" Alright, enough discussing on how the three of you are going to triumph over the Hyuuga. It's getting late, and we need to set up camp," Shikamaru called out to them, jumping off a branch and landing a small clearing he deemed suitable enough to set up camp.

_Writer's note: Another update squeezed in. I promise to update regularly after my exams are over, which will happen in about 3 weeks time, so do be patient with me. I'm still trying to finish my other fanfic as well._

_ The idea for Hiroshi's weapon came from Tenten, who used her scrolls to attack, and Kankarou who can fire weapons out of his puppets. The basic mechanism was probably still the same: sealing the weapon into a scroll or seal somewhere, and then taking it out using some chakra. So, all Hiroshi did was to make some sort of makeshift projecttile launcher, possibly similiar to the way puppet works...but I may have said too much already..._


	6. Chapter 5: The Leaf's Ally

**Chapter 5: The Leaf's Ally**

Night had fallen over the place, and the darkness was still and quiet, save for the small fire they had set up to keep them warm. Shikamaru lay on the branch of a nearby tree while the rest of his students were huddled next to the fire they made. They had set up two crude tents by the fire for them to sleep inside for the night.

" I still think it was genjutsu," Hiroshi replied.

" I'm telling you, it was some ninjutsu of some sort. I got affected, how would you know?" Sora exclaimed, still continuing their discussion, or their debate, on their sensei's abilities.

" Now, now, don't fight. Why don't you all help me cook some dinner instead of arguing?" Ryouta suggested, placing up a small pot over the fire they had made. " Besides, I don't know how to cook very well, except boiling the stuff we have collected, which will be rather bland, I think."

" Hey, don't look at me. Don't you assume I know how to cook since I'm female," Sora replied.

" Man, you guys are useless.." Hiroshi sighed good-naturedly. " Let me do it."

Both of them watched as Hiroshi started to boil some water in the small pot, then continued by preparing the ingredients for their meal. He peeled and shredded the wild roots and tubers that they found with his kunai, and dumped them in the pot. He then proceeded to skin the rabbit they caught, with much trouble, and drop in pieces of its meat into the pot. This was prompt followed by him throwing a whole bunch of other stuff into the pot, like leaves, flowers and herbs. He placed some powder from his supply pack to thicken the stew, and after stirring it for a while, it started to smell heavenly.

" Well, I guess we wont need to worry about what to eat the next time we go out this far," Shikamaru said, leaping off the branch and joining them when Hiroshi mentioned that the stew was almost ready.

" Hey, you didn't help at all!" Sora said, pointing her finger at him.

" Well, I wonder who was the one who said she wanted to cook in the first place…" Shikamaru sighed, scratching his head.

After some further heating up with Ryouta feeding the flame with his fire jutsu skills, Hiroshi poured each of them a bowl of hot, creamy stew, which they all accepted and ate gratefully, with Sora taking multiple helpings.

" Wow, this is about as good as it gets!" she exclaimed, drinking down the last of the stew, smacking her lips in satisfaction.

" Best meal I've tasted in a while…" Ryouta honestly replied.

" You are making me blush…" Hiroshi replied, looking aside.

Sora got up and went behind him, pinching him playfully, and painfully, on both cheeks. " This does it! Next time we ever go on a mission that requires me to go camping, you'll be my camping partner for sure!" she said.

" God, someone just kill me…" Hiroshi sobbed in a hilarious manner.

" Excellent, now that everyone has eaten their fill, let's get a good night rest and get ready for tomorrow," Shikamaru said, yawning loudly. He got up and walked to wards the tent they had set up earlier. " Now, the three of you set up watches for the next 6 hours in any fashion you like. I'm going to sleep right now."

" Hey, sensei, why aren't you keeping watch as well?! Also, it's not like a bunch of shinobi will be attacking us in the night, right?!" Sora exclaimed, pointing her finger at him accusingly.

" I'm too lazy to do that. Besides, keeping watch builds character," Shikamaru said, going into the tent. A second later, there were soft snoring sounds being emitted from the tent.

" Damn it…perhaps we should just skip watch, since he's already sleeping. What he doesn't know won't kill him," Sora said.

" I head that, and do know that I will know if you haven't been keeping watch all night," Shikamaru's voice came out of the tent before the soft snoring noises continued.

" Damn that guy!" Sora said.

" Let's take 2 hours intervals. I'd like to take the second watch," Ryouta said.

" Hmm, I'll take the first then. I'll wake you up when the time comes," Hiroshi replied, knowing what Ryouta was up to. He turned to see if Sora had any objections, but she had gone inside her tent, pouting, so Hiroshi was going to take it as a yes.

-

Hiroshi's eyelids were almost closing down upon his sockets, but he forced himself off the branch he was sitting on to keep watch and slowly made his way to the tent. His two hours of watching were up, and it was Ryouta's turn. However, when he got to the tent where he was sleeping in, he saw that Ryouta had already woken, careful to not wake Sora, just in case she burst into a fit.

" Hmm, why do I even bother then?" Hiroshi sighed.

" Um, that's alright. I wake myself up whenever it's time…" Ryouta said softly, getting out and walking along off somewhere. He then noticed Hiroshi had followed him. " Hmm, you've been up for some time now. You better get some sleep."

" I've taken several long naps during my two hour watch, so I'm fine really," Hiroshi said, although he did feel slightly tired. " Don't tell Shikamaru sensei though."

Ryouta chuckled slightly, and mouthed the words " Don't worry, I won't."

Both shinobi made their way along the forest path, until they reached a short cliff some distance away. They sat at the edge of the cliff, and waited quietly for midnight, a time Ryouta apparently loves. Hiroshi wanted to start a conversation, but he apparently wasn't sure what to talk about.

" So, this is where you two are? On a date, are we?" Sora's voice said out from right behind them all of a sudden, making Hiroshi jump with fright. " I thought I didn't feel you enter the tent. Guess was right. What in the world are you two doing here?"

" Um…just enjoying the night…" Hiroshi stammered. Sora stared at him, then turned to Ryouta for some confirmation, which he promptly gave by nodding his head while grinning. Shrugging her shoulders, she sat down right next to Hiroshi. " Um, don't you have to stay up to keep watch later?" he asked.

" Screw that! If he can figure out I skipped watch, he's already keeping watch for us," Sora said, shaking her legs in a tomboyish manner. " I'm going to sit here and see what so bloody interesting about looking at the night sky that you'd forgo a couple hours of sleep."

" Hmm, what's that?" Ryouta asked all of a sudden. Both Hiroshi and Sora looked over the cliff to where he was looking in general down below. They were not sure what he saw, but it was evidently something. They peered again, although they could not make out anything.

" I'm hearing sounds below…" Ryouta said, cupping his hands next to his ears, as if it would make him hear better.

" I hear nothing," Sora said, even mimicking Ryouta's actions to try to hear better.

" Perhaps if we go closer, we might know what's up," Ryouta said suddenly. All of a sudden, he stood up, and then jumped off the cliff, sliding down the steep surface of the rocky cliff with ease, leaving a trail of dirt and small pieces of rock along the way. Hiroshi looked at Ryouta, wondering what to do.

" Hmm, you don't know how to use chakra control that well, huh?" Sora asked. Hiroshi shook his head. He heard, and seen, of shinobis channeling their chakra to parts of their body for them to be able to stick or attach themselves upon vertical surfaces or upside down, even walk on water. There was some legend about one shinobi who supposedly had walked on air, but this was debatable.

" Well, stick here then…we'll be back soon, I think…" Sora said, sliding along the cliff's surface. She slid off the edge and jumped down, making short jumps as she descended. She wasn't really good at chakra control either, but her skills in taijutsu were superior enough for her to stick to the cliff wall just using her fingers and strength alone.

Not wanting to be the only person left out, Hiroshi immediately took out his weapon launchers and attached them quickly to his arms. He fired a few wires and attached them to a nearby tree, before scaling down the cliff slowly. It took him some time to reach the bottom, but he went down the cliff nonetheless. Ryouta and Sora looked at him in surprise as he landed right next to them as they were about to move out.

" Hmm, surprised you could be this ingenious," Sora commented.

Ryouta immediately climbed up the tree, followed by Sora and Hiroshi, who used his wires to pull him up. All of them made it to the top of the tree and took a look around the dark night.

" There!" Ryouta exclaimed, pointing somewhere east. The two of them looked at where he pointed. Some distance away, there was some movement within the trees, too much movement to be caused by a wild animal. Nobody had to tell them that those were movements of shinobi.

Upon closer inspection, they could see several people moving about. All of a sudden, there was a bright flash as someone detonated a flash bang. Sora peered, her vision being the best in the team. " Hmm…I see six people. I see three shinobis running away from another three. I believe the three of them running away are from the sand," she said, squinting her eyes.

" The sand shinobis? Are you sure?!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Hey, my eyes are way better than yours. Don't argue with me! If I say they are sand shinobis, then they are sand shinobis!" Sora argued back, her fist raised.

" But what are they doing in our country? And who the hell is chasing them?" Hiroshi asked.

" Beats me…" Ryouta said. " Sora, can you check and see from which affiliation those shinobi are from?"

" I don't rightly know, but they didn't seem to be wearing any headbands," Sora said.

" Shall we help?" Ryouta asked.

" What!?" both Sora and Hiroshi exclaimed loudly.

" We are after all allies of the sand, and they are our allies in turn. Being allies, we should help them, don't you agree? After all, we are going to the Sand village to stay there anyway. It will be good to give them a good impression," Ryouta answered.

" I don't give a damn about them, but if it means a good fight, I'm in!" Sora said, jumping off the tree.

" Um, I'm not sure about this…should we wake Shikamaru sensei just in case?" Hiroshi asked.

---

Three figures leaped through the trees, moving as fast as they could towards the east. Their feet hit the branches of the trees in rapid succession, the three of them jumping all around. The one in the lead, who had his hair all about and was holding what looked like a long spear, took a quick look behind him, only to see their pursuers moving closely behind them, fully intent on chasing them down.

" They are damn persistent!" he replied. " Makoto, can you stall them?!"

His companion, another Sand shinobi, who wore his forehead protector across his eyes, nodded slightly. Even though he was blind, obvious from his eyes being covered with his headband, he seemed to know very well where he was going. He made a back flip and faced the three ninjas pursuing them, his hands forming seals as fast as he could. He was done in a second, and after channeling chakra into his hands, he threw them out.

Almost invisible lines sped out of his fingers, tracing themselves towards their pursuers. Their pursuers saw this, and almost instantly, leaped aside. The wind blades tore through the branches they were originally on, cutting them cleanly.

" Damn bastard, why the hell are they after us?" the shinobi with the spear exclaimed.

" I don't rightly know, Hibiki, but I hope our sensei is…" their final female companion said, before exclaiming loudly in pain as one of their pursuers threw a kunai at her, grazing her legs. The wound wasn't serious, but it was enough to throw her off balance as her legs slipped from the branch she was on, making her fall a few feet below her.

" Suzumi!" Makoto exclaimed, as both he and Hibiki backtracked towards her, but were stopped by shurikens that were thrown in their direction, which they had to avoid. Suzumi felt herself hit the lower branches of a tree, shortly before she looked up to see one of the pursuers jumping down on her, his kunai gleaming in his hands.

She closed her eyes in fear, somehow guessing she would die. However, instead of hearing the sound of a kunai tearing into her flesh, she heard instead the sound of a dull thump and someone groaning painfully, before feeling the rush of wind right above her. She opened her eyes tentatively, only to see two unknown people standing in front of her, having knocked the pursuer away. The other two who were along with the chase stopped running after them to check on their comrade who had been knocked to the ground, looking at the two newcomers.

" Hey, you useless bums! You have been picking on the weak! I'm here to deal with you personally!" Sora exclaimed loudly, thumbing her chest.

There was a whiz somewhere, and the three pursuers spun their heads to see a kunai hit the tree behind them , which was tagged with an explosive note. It blew up a second later, not before they leaped away to safety.

" Leaf shinobi? What the hell are you doing here?!" Makoto exclaimed, seeing the three newcomers, with Hiroshi coming up from behind them.

" I think the same question could be said here, Sand shinobi!" Sora exclaimed once more.

" We were just…erm, passing through when we saw your predicament, so we decided to help you all out," Ryouta answered.

" Perfect then! Looks like we have got reinforcements, Makoto! It's 6 on 3, we have the advantage now! Let's go!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" Hey wait!" Makoto exclaimed, wanting to stop Hibiki, but he had already leaped off the branch he was on and headed towards the closest shinobi within sight. He swung his spear around, the entire body of the weapon red and was lined with gold. The tip, which was about a foot long, triangular blade, hit hard upon another kunai as he struck.

Makoto wasn't going to allow his comrade to fight three shinobis by himself, and he also joined the fray. Ryouta and Sora quickly joined him, Sora's face lighting up from the anticipation of a fight. Suzumi looked weakly at them as they engaged the enemy, feeling something land right beside her. Looking up, she saw Hiroshi kneeling next to her.

" Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

" I'm…um, yeah, I'm fine…I guess…" she stammered. " Why in the world are you all here?"

" Ah, well…as my friend said, we were just passing through," Hiroshi replied sheepishly.

" Hiroshi, stop hitting on her and come here and give us a hand!" Sora yelled throughout the mess.

Hibiki was lashing out furiously in all directions, not really giving a damn where the hell he was getting at, as long as his hits connected with something, shinobi or not. He was pretty skilled with the use of his spear, whirling it all around, knocking all the shurikens that came towards his direction aside with ease even without him looking. Using the range of his weapon, he tried to pierce one of the enemies, but missed. The shinobi leaped up high, only to be knocked down by Sora, who had leaped up and aimed a nice kick in his chest, sending him flying down again.

One of the pursuers formed hand seals, then shot out a sizable amount of water from his mouth. Both Makoto and Ryouta leaped aside, the powerful jet of water slamming into a nearby tree, breaking the bark to bits. Both of them prepared their jutsus, and executed their skills in mid-air. Makoto threw a couple of wind blades in their direction, missing them slightly as they avoided the attack. Ryouta took his time, waiting for them to avoid the attack and when they were most vulnerable, while avoiding the wind blades, he then breathed out fire in their direction.

One of them was not able to avoid the blow quickly enough, and was engulfed in a large ball of fire. However, he managed to get out of the way fast enough, and only suffered some superficial burns, on his body and his attire as well. Out of nowhere, a whole storm of shurikens flew towards him, hitting the attacker in the chest and pinning him painfully on the tree. Ryouta glanced back to see that Hiroshi had fired his weapon launcher at them, grinning nicely at the shot he made.

With the attack, the pursuers turned their attention towards Hiroshi and Suzumi, who was lying next to him, instead. One of them slipped past Hibiki and Sora, who executed a poor attack as he dashed through the both of them, almost hitting each other instead. Acting quickly, Hiroshi fired a smoke bomb right at his feet, instantly engulfing him and Suzumi in a large ball of purple smoke. He fired several more shurikens in the attackers direction to throw him off track as he leaped backwards towards safety. He felt some movement by his side, and he figured that the girl shinobi had leaped out of the way.

As he cleared himself from the smoke, he saw the shinobi in question move towards him. He unsealed two windmill shurikens in a flash and shot them towards the enemy. It was a poorly executed shot, and he missed by almost a foot. Hiroshi stood rooted in fear as the enemy came closer, when all of a sudden there was some movement beside him. He was knocked aside all of a sudden, and there was some ripping noise in the air, although he wasn't sure where it came from since he was sent flying to the side, crashing to a nearby branch.

" Suzumi!" Hibiki yelled, seeing her push Hiroshi out of harms way, only to allow the enemy to rip her sleeve apart with a kunai. He almost got nicked from the other enemy as he was distracted, but Ryouta managed to fire a fireball at his direction just in time to keep the enemy shinobi at bay. Suzumi fell back, clutching her slightly wounded shoulder. The enemy was about to strike the finishing blow when his hands stopped, raised high in the air but seemingly unable to bring it down.

" What the hell...?" he exclaimed.

" What's this? Bullying little kids, moreover female. Why don't you attempt to pick on someone your own size, eh?" a familiar sarcastic voice replied. Hiroshi looked up to see someone standing above him, his features barely recognisable under the moon light, his hands clasped together in the form of a seal.

" Shikamaru sensei!" Hiroshi exclaimed loudly.

" Look, kids, I'm fine if you like to diss keeping guard, take a midnight stroll and pick up fights with random shinobi, but do have the courtesy to at least tell me where the heck you all are going," Shikamaru said tiredly, cracking his neck.

The other shinobi tried to take this opportunity to attack, leaping towards both Hiroshi and Shikamaru. Hiroshi immediately got up and formed his hand seals, before performing his jutsu. Yet again, he only managed to blow out his breath, not the large powerful cannon-like blast he had seen Ryouta emit when he performed the Wind Bullet jutsu. However, as the enemy approached, the shinobi who Shikamaru had stopped magically leaped at his comrade, kicking him in the gut, right at the same time when Shikamaru leaped off the tree, knocking him aside.

" I would advice you to use jutsus you can confidently use in a battle situation like this," Shikamaru said, landing some distance away.

" What are you doing?!" the shinobi who was kicked exclaimed to his friend, wondering why he was doing all of a sudden.

" I can't move my body...I'm being controlled by him..." the shinobi replied, nudging his head towards Shikamaru with whatever movement he could muster.

" Right, now if you could kindly tell me what are you all up to with these kids here?" Shikamaru asked.

As a reply, one of the shinobis threw a small ball right in the middle of them, which ignited into a large bright flash of light. All seven of the raised their hands immediately, trying to shield their hand from the blast of light, when Ryouta faintly heard the dull sound of a kunai being tossed on the ground, only that this time, there was a faint sizzling noise that followed it.

Before he had the chance to tell them of the explosive tags, it went off. The explosion was pretty large, encompassing the entire area, possibly due to the fact that they had set off several explosive tags at once. He was quite sure that the explosion would reach him as well, only to suddenly feel himself thrown back...no, moved backwards forcefully all of a sudden. Dust stung his eyes as the blast kicked up a lot of dirt, but other than that he was quite fine.

" What the..." Hiroshi groaned.

The explosion had created a nice, large, smoking crater in the middle of the forest. All of them seemed to have been moved back to the edge where the blast couldn't reach them. Hiroshi wasn't too sure what happened. He was quite sure the blast would have engulfed him, and probably the rest of them. They somehow managed to get out of it in time.

" Looks like I made it in time..." Shikamaru replied, looking disheveled and dirty from the blast, a layer of dirt and dust covering his body. He groaned as he picked himself up, thrown back on the floor by the blast.

" How the hell did he get us out of the blast?" Sora asked, seemingly perplexed as well.

Ryouta took a look around. The other three sand shinobi were roughed up, but were in good condition and unharmed. The three other rogue shinobi had left the place. He wondered if they should chase them down.

" You guys owe me an explanation..." Shikamaru said, sighing loudly, knowing something troublesome is going to come up.

_Writer's note: My exams are finally over, and this fanfic will get a regular weekly update from now on since I've got time on my hands. I apologise for the wait. _


	7. Chapter 6: The Sand Jounin

**Chapter 6: The Sand Jounin**

" So, let me get this straight: Your jounin sensei took you out for an overseas mission. On the way while you were traveling back from somewhere in our country, you were attacked by a group of radical shinobi, who have all the intent on finishing you all off. Your jounin sensei instructed all of you to escape while she served as a distraction to lure most of these shinobi away. Now you are here, and she is stuck somewhere, since you said from the last transmission you received on your wireless radio she said that she was stuck somewhere, and has asked the three of you to find help. Have I got all the details correct?" Shikamaru asked.

The three sand ninjas nodded solemnly. They had now gathered around the small fire they had set up back at their original camp site. Hiroshi found a couple of edible mushrooms and cooked all of them some warm soup. The sand shinobi quickly explained their predicament as they ate. Actually, it was more towards the blind sand-nin explaining everything, the female one nodded her head at every statement he made, and the final one, who was resting his spear on his shoulder as he sat on the ground, grunting every 15 seconds or so.

" Can you help us?" the female one asked.

" Well, we have to see about that," Shikamaru replied.

" Wait, what do you mean?!" she exclaimed loudly.

" Whoa, before we continue, why don't we introduce ourselves, so I can address you all properly," Shikamaru suggested. Seeing their apprehensive faces, he then suggested " Alright, if you are uncomfortable with giving your own names, then give me aliases so I know how to at least address you."

None of them spoke for a while. After a while, the female spoke " Um, are you by any chance Nara Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows curiously. " I will admit I am him, but then again, how'd you figure that out?" Shikamaru asked. His students looked curiously at him, wondering who in the world were these sand shinobis.

" You match the description our sensei gave us," she replied.

Shikamaru looked at her with narrowed eyes for a second, then sighed loudly all of a sudden. " Then, after saying that, I'm going to assume that your sensei is Temari. Wait, I'm not assuming. I know," Shikamaru replied.

" Yes, yes!" she replied excitedly.

" Sensei, who are they?" Hiroshi piped up.

" Well, I guess there is nothing wrong with a very early get together. Students, meet your new companions you all will be working with in the sand," Shikamaru said.

" Eh?!" All five of them exclaimed, not including the sand shinobi armed with the spear.

" Temari sure has a big mouth," Shikamaru replied, scratching his head. " Well, we are going to stay in the sand village for a while. They have also allocated another genin team to work alongside with us, and, very coincidentally, these are your sand teammates: Kisurugi Makoto, Nagato Suzumi, and…"

" …Tch…" Hibiki replied, noisily cutting off Shikamaru before he could say his name.

" Hibiki, stop being rude!" Suzumi scolded him.

" Look, I didn't ask for this. They know my name. There is no further need to know anything more than that," Hibiki replied grumpily.

" Um, sorry about that…he's always like that…" Suzumi apologized for Hibiki's sake.

" …when I'm around you leaf bastards," Hibiki continued, completing the sentence.

" What did you just say?!" Sora exclaimed, as soon as the last word of his sentence escaped his lips.

" Hibiki, you are not helping matters one bit," Makoto replied.

" That's alright…I get that a lot," Shikamaru chuckled.

" Well, then, nice to meet you," Ryouta said, getting up to shake hands with Makoto and Suzumi, purposely avoiding Hibiki for obvious reasons. Both Sora and Hiroshi followed suit, although everyone could notice Sora was staring very intensely at Hibiki, who didn't reply and sat sulking at the corner.

" Um, Shikamaru-sama, what do you mean that you will see about rescuing our sensei?" Suzumi asked, continuing their initial conversation.

" Um, I'm not ready to put up by being addressed as such. Shikamaru sensei, if you insist in calling me in any other fashion than just my name," Shikamaru objected quickly.

" Um, Shikamaru-sensei…"

" Look, I'll need to determine what we are up against. I have now at my disposal 6 genins, but then again, I don't know who we are up against. I have no qualms about facing off rogue shinobi, but I'm worried about your safety. I can't protect all of you if they decided to swarm in at once," Shikamaru replied.

" Sensei, you won't need to worry about us! We are more than capable enough!" Sora exclaimed, thumbing her chest. " Well, at least I am!"

" …Of getting killed," Hibiki responded in an off-handed manner. It had to take both Hiroshi and Ryouta to hold her down from beating the crap out of him, as she started cursing at him, her arms waving about dangerously.

" One more comment and I swear I will disable you, Hibiki…" Makoto replied dangerously, with malice in his voice. Hibiki merely glared at him, but he kept silent. Hiroshi looked at Hibiki curiously, wondering why was this guy acting like such.

" Hmm…well, little information wouldn't hurt one bit," Shikamaru replied, ignoring the whatever Hibiki said and what Sora was still attempting to do as both Hiroshi and Ryouta held her back. " How many people were there initially when you encountered them?"

" 8…including the people who were chasing us," Makoto answered.

" So 5, are left, minimally if they didn't get any back-up, and the three that escaped from us didn't go back to them. Well, an advantage in numbers then. What about their fighting capabilities?"

" All of them are roughly around the chuunin level, and nothing significantly special about their abilities, except that seem to know a lot of sound jutsus. At least 3 of them are genjutsu users," Makoto replied.

" Hmm, remnants of the old Sound village?" Shikamaru mused, mostly to himself.

" Remnants?" Hiroshi asked, but Shikamaru didn't hear him or chose not to reply.

" Alright, we will have to go and rescue this sensei of yours," Shikamaru replied, much to Makoto and Suzumi's relief. " Guys, pack up the tent. We are leaving immediately.

---

Within less than an hour, all 7 of them were dashing through the forest, lead by Hibiki, who had all the intent of keeping his distance away from the rest of them as they tagged along. Shikamaru followed him closely, with the rest of them moving along haphazardly in no particular formation.

" Sorry about Hibiki. He does have a nice personality. It's just he doesn't fancy people from the leaf," Suzumi apologized for what was supposedly the tenth time today.

" Bah, that's alright! I'll just beat his nice personality out of him!" Sora snarled gleefully, slamming her fists together.

" I wouldn't want to try that. Hibiki's a pretty good combatant, despite what he says, so he lives up to his arrogance," Makoto chuckled. " Although, he is nowhere as close as good I am," Makoto added a second later.

" Oh, really?" Sora sneered. " I'd be interesting to spar with you…"

" Really? When this is all over, I guess we have plenty of time for that," Makoto replied. " Then again, it might be interesting to spar the rest of you."

" Makoto…" Suzumi replied, frowning, although in a slightly comical fashion.

" What? It would be good to pit the jutsus of our village against our rivals, don't you think so? Suzumi is much of a pacifist, so she doesn't fancy us beating the crap out of each other," Makoto asked.

" Perhaps…but then again, what a coincidence, I'm a pacifist as well," Ryouta chuckled.

Hiroshi quietly watched the group, making whatever observations he could of his newfound teammates. Makoto was the bold, open one, and he was probably the voice of the team. Hiroshi found out that he liked his character. Despite all the sarcastic and cynical remarks he gave, he was friendly at least to all of them in general, jokes coming out from him whenever he could afford it. However, he did have that latent killing aura within him, obviously shown when he warned his teammate not to badmouth them any further more than an hour ago.

He had light brown hair, all spiked up. Hiroshi found it quite surprising that he was able to move about, despite the fact that he was blind. In fact, he moved about as normally as they did, leaping from branch to branch as if he had normal sight. Hiroshi was reminded of the Hyuuga family with their Byakugan ability to see through things, but then again, Makoto wasn't from the Hyuuga family, and none of the Hyuuga family used their forehead protector to hide their eyes. He was wearing a thick brown vest which encompassed his entire chest, looking very similar to the ones he saw sand shinobi wear, over his thick cotton shirt and pants.

Suzumi was the shyer person in the group, having so far apologized more than she talked. Hiroshi had to admit that she looked very pretty, having shoulder length jet black hair tied in a neat ponytail. Her deep azure blue eyes seemed to accentuate her looks on her round face. In fact, Sora probably looked about as good as her, it was her tomboyish and rough attitude that put him off. He found it difficult to imagine a character such as Suzumi attempting to get pissed.

She was dressed in a simple red leather vest over her sleeveless shirt. She had a short skirt over her blue jeans, and on her waist was a white jacket which she had tied to her body. Hiroshi noted several packs in which she had attached to her belt, and from the looks, she was probably a medic-nin, or at least one in training.

Hiroshi looked up to see the final member up in front of them. He wasn't sure what was Hibiki's problem, but it seemed like he disliked any Leaf shinobi in general. He had not said anything polite to them so far, but he didn't seem to dislike his teammates, as Hiroshi saw him converse politely with them, even inquiring if Suzumi was injured during the fight. He just seemed to not like Hiroshi and the rest of them, which would be troublesome if they were supposed to work together.

He had dark green hair, combed back to make him look like he had some thick mane of sorts. It wasn't very visible with the lack of light, but Hiroshi noticed he had some scars on his body, a noticeable one was a thin long line down his left eye. He had a slot attached to his back to keep his spear, but he didn't seem to bother keeping it there, and Hiroshi had not seen him let go of his weapon for one second. Hiroshi also noticed recently that he had two weapon pouches, instead of the normal one every shinobi carried, on his left and right thighs, not to mention that both of them had an enlarged compartment which held a scroll each.

" So, what exactly does that thing on your hands do?" Makoto asked. It took some time before Hiroshi realized that Makoto as addressing him.

" Eh? What? This?" Hiroshi asked, realizing that he still had his weapon launchers equipped.

" Yes, a funny contraption, if you ask me. What purpose does it serve? Shooting out weapons?" Makoto asked.

Hiroshi almost did a double-take. " Are you seriously blind?!" he asked.

Makoto chuckled. " Well, I'm not exactly blind, I just can't use my eyes, but then let's not go into technicality. As far as you and I are concerned, I can't see anything past this forehead protector of mine," he replied.

" Then how do you know how to move yourself, not to mention knowing what the heck was attached to my arm?" Hiroshi replied.

" Sound…" Makoto replied.

" Eh?"

" I use sound to know where I'm going. Not having sight has endowed me with superior sense of hearing, and I can pick up sounds to know where people are, where things are and what things are, although since its merely sound I can't really distinguish items properly, like all I know is that the equipment you have on your arm is something that looks like a gauntlet," Makoto explained.

" The way you carry yourself makes it seem you can listen to sounds at an ultrasonic level," Hiroshi remarked.

" Well, nothing to it for a person like me to learn a couple of useful jutsus from the Sound village, no?" Makoto replied. " Now, you now how my ears function. Why don't you tell me what your weapon works as?"

" Well, it basically allows me to fire out projectiles, or unseal weapons from the scrolls I have attached inside these equipments. Pretty useful, since I can't seem to throw a projectile properly to save my life," Hiroshi admitted.

" Wow, just like puppet jutsus!" Suzumi exclaimed.

" Puppet what?!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Seriously, don't you know anything at all? The Sands are famous for their shinobis who can use puppets, controlled by chakra strings. The danger in a puppet is that you don't know what traps and weapons it has stored inside its body, and its trickery that puppet masters are good at. They need a sharp, analytical mind, not to mention being very crafty. They store all their weapons in seals inside their bodies, and expel them just about the way you use those weapons of yours," Sora replied.

" Hmm, I didn't know that…" Hiroshi replied.

" You don't seem to know anything!" Sora shot back. The rest of them laughed as Hiroshi's face went red.

" But I guess it is similar in a way," Ryouta replied.

" The mechanism is pretty good, from the looks of it. In fact, I think you might have talent in puppetry, from the looks of your workmanship," Suzumi replied. Hiroshi looked aside, not answering.

" Any of you puppet users?" Ryouta asked.

" I'm a ninjutsu user, so no," Makoto replied.

" I'm basically a genjutsu user, but I'm training to become a medic-nin. My skills in puppetry is limited at best, although I do have one puppet which I use occasionally when enemies get to close for my genjutsu to work in time. Hibiki is a much better puppet user," Suzumi replied.

" He doesn't look like the type," Ryouta replied.

" He doesn't. He's more prone to use brute force than subtle attacks. However, he does come from a long line of puppet users, and it is sort of in his blood. He may not use them, but his knowledge about them is far better than either of us, although it can be said he'd be much better if he took up skills in puppetry, but to ones own, I always say. He was the one who taught Suzumi how to use a puppet," Makoto answered.

Hiroshi's mind was swimming with the prospect of learning how to use puppets, a skill long reserved for people from the Sand. However, it seems his closest source of information upon the subject hated his guts. _This is so convenient…_he thought darkly.

" How about it, Hiroshi? You don't have any particular field of combat in which you specialize in. Taking up skills in becoming a puppeteer might prove useful, not to mention we can get help from them," Ryouta replied, seeing Hiroshi's expression.

" Eh, what? Er…am I even allowed to?" Hiroshi asked.

" Of course, that is, if you teach us some of your jutsus as well," Makoto replied, grinning mischievously.

" He's not getting any help from me, that's for sure," Hibiki's voice floated all the way to where they were. They looked up at him. He had his back turned on them, not bothering to look at them in the face. " I'm surprised you all can afford to talk so casually. Aren't we supposed to be rescuing Temari sensei?"

" I'm…" Suzumi started.

" Please stop it. There is no need to apologise for that," Ryouta cut her short.

---

After about two hours of traveling, Hibiki stopped at the edge of a small knoll, peering forward. The rest of them stopped behind him. Hiroshi's eyes widened as he saw the extent of the damage that had been caused to the place.

Right in front of them, large areas of trees had been cut to shreds, leaving their broken, ripped trunks all over the place. The extent of the damage was very extensive, as about an area of about a hectare had been wiped clean, leaving the ruined remains of what was supposedly a green forest.

" Looks like her handiwork alright," Shikamaru mused.

" Wait, are you telling their sensei blew apart a forest?!" Sora exclaimed in surprise.

" Well, you know how violent females can get when they want to be violent," Shikamaru replied.

" Yes, I think I understand you, sensei," Hiroshi replied. He then somehow felt that Sora's eyes rested upon the back of his head all of a sudden.

" But then, where is she?" Suzumi asked, sounding worried.

Makoto tapped his wireless radio to check for a signal from his sensei. There was nothing but static coming from it, signifying that either it had been destroyed or taken out of commission, or something had happened to their sensei. Hoping it was the former, he prepared a jutsu, his hands forming the seals before slamming them on the floor. Hiroshi felt something vibrate beneath him, before hearing some faint humming noise being emitted from somewhere.

" She's here!" he exclaimed after a while, jumping off the branch he stood upon, running towards the middle of the felled trees, almost instantly followed by Suzumi and Hibiki. Hiroshi and the rest of them followed, although he noticed Shikamaru looked around cautiously for a second before following them.

" Sensei!" Makoto exclaimed all of a sudden.

Somewhere within the mass of felled trees, a female figure was propped up against one of the stumps of the trees, breathing slightly. She looked up at the approaching group, then smiled at them. Makoto was the first to reach her, skidding to a halt right next to her. He wore a purple leather vest that covered her chest, over her thick cotton shirt attire. Like Shikamaru, she also had fishnets over her arms and legs. She had tied up her long, blonde hair in two large braids.

" Well, looks like reinforcements came just right in time," she said, smiling.

" Well, thank God we managed to get here in time. You don't look to good," Shikamaru replied in a tone that suggested that he was addressing a very close friend. " That will be one rescue from my part."

" Relax, you still have to rescue me another 4 times before we are even," Temari replied.

" You know I can't argue with that," Shikamaru replied.

Temari was wounded, having suffered a lot of cuts and a shallow stab wound to the abdomen, but she was not in any serious condition, just very worn out and tired from fighting. Suzumi immediately hugged her sensei tightly when they met each other, breaking down in tears when she did do. " Sensei, I was so worried…" she sobbed.

" I'd love your hugs, Suzumi, but then again, if you are going to tighten your grip any further, I think I'd snap a rib," Temari replied.

Suzumi started to clean and bandage her sensei's injuries, with some help from Hibiki, who for the first time so far, did he release his grip on his weapon. Hiroshi felt that he should do something to help, but having almost no knowledge in first aid would probably prove to be a hindrance, not to mention there was no exact need for multiple people fussing over one person.

" So, these are your students, eh? You sure took a very appropriate time to introduce them to me," Temari replied, looking at Ryouta, Sora, and finally Hiroshi. " Where are your manners?"

" I can't believe you are not saying any thanks for me coming to rescue you," Shikamaru sighed.

" Sensei, where are the shinobi who you had been keeping at bay?" Makoto asked.

" Well, I've dealt a severe blow to them, but I figure they are still around here somewhere. But anyway, Shikamaru sensei here has seen to it already, I believe," Temari answered.

" What do you mean, sensei?" Suzumi asked.

" They have apparently left the area shortly before our arrival. Perhaps they sensed our presence and decided it was best to leave. After all, it would be 3 against 7, and I'm sure I'm more than a match for them," Shikamaru answered calmly, smoking his cigarette.

" How'd you figure that out?" Hiroshi asked.

" Hey, I'm a jounin sensei, of course I'll need to know in order to keep you troublemakers from getting in trouble if such a situation arises," Shikamaru sighed.

" Are you saying that I fail as a jounin sensei?" Temari asked.

" Nope, I didn't say that at all," Shikamaru replied, looking away.

Temari forced herself to her feet by using what Hiroshi now noticed as a large fan, which was about as long as she was that was left carelessly by her side. Hiroshi found it surprising that she could even stand despite her injuries. _She must be one hell of a resilient woman..._he thought.

She walked up to Shikamaru then kissed him full on the lips, much to his students, and his surprise as well. She kept her lips there for a minute, then broke it. " Well, how's that for a thank you from me?" Temari asked coyly.

" Gah! What the hell is going on here?!" Sora and Hiroshi exclaimed almost simultaneously as if they had rehearsed it to say it right now.

" Um, didn't you know they were engaged?" Suzumi asked, before being nudged by Makoto, signifying that she shouldn't have said that.

" What?!"

_Writer's note: Among all the 6 genins, only Hiroshi's name was randomly made up. The rest were taken from other characters from other animes and mangas: Sora from Digimon, Ryouta from Kyou no go no ni, Hibiki from Vandread, Suzumi from The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (I know, it's Suzumiya, but I wanted a shorter name), and Makoto from Futari Ecchi (this isn't for kids, if you are under 18, don't read this!). Hiroshi was the only one which I made up out of nowhere, and the only one with the name that doesn't come up as an error in Microsoft Word._


	8. Chapter 7: The Village of the Sand

**Chapter 7: The Village of the Sand**

One thing about the country of wind was that it was pretty difficult to move about quickly when there is a sandstorm brewing around the place. Strong winds would buffet ones body, and all the sand around the place made it difficult to see and move, not to mention the desert terrain wasn't the best terrain to be moving across. Hiroshi found it difficult to move forward, since the strong winds were pushing him in all direction, having fallen several times already.

" Oh, looks like its letting up," Temari said, peering through the heavy cotton hood she and her students wore. Shikamaru's team didn't have anything to cover their faces from the sand, so they made do with whatever pieces of cloth that had to cover their faces, except that Shikamaru himself was too lazy to actually do anything about it. However, he did seem a bit annoyed that he couldn't smoke in the sandstorm.

" Doesn't look like it's letting up!" Sora shouted through the storm. However, about less than a minute later, the storm did die down, and the rest of them removed their hoods.

" Erratic, this place is," Sora mumbled, looking around in the desert.

" Yeah, about as erratic as you are," Hiroshi whispered to Ryouta, who chuckled at the joke. Thankfully, Sora didn't pay any attention to them, so Hiroshi was spared a whooping she would have given him if her ears were any sharper.

Shikamaru snorted, lighting a smoke when the storm had let up as they made their way along to the sand village. This was probably a very desolate piece of land, and Hiroshi could imagine this might be one of the more difficult places to siege in the event of a war, as the land was so dry and harsh. It was no surprise that most Sand shinobi were resilient and survived on very little.

" Whoa, brother, I just brought back a team from the leaf village. You know the one where they were sending Genins over to stay as exchange students?" Temari replied all of a sudden, stopping in her tracks.

None of the three leaf shinobi knew who exactly she was talking to until they saw some movement of the sand beyond them. Hiroshi gave a yelp as he saw something that looked like a really scary mask emerged from the sand before them, jumping backwards.

" Bah, easily scared, aren't they?" a teasing voice replied. " Shikamaru, you Leaf shinobi are as weak as ever. No wonder you depend on us so much."

" Well, you are pretty dependable on that field, aren't you Kankarou?" Shikamaru replied, grinning. He apparently also knew this masked person. Hiroshi took a closer look. The mask that was beneath the sand apparently looked like the face of a scorpion, and somehow, there was a voice being issued from it. _Controlled by a shinobi somewhere, perhaps…_Hiroshi thought.

" Kankarou-sensei, you are an expert in puppet jutsus, right?! Hiroshi here is interested in learning them. Perhaps you could give him some pointers," Suzumi enthusiastically replied.

" Eh? I didn't say that…" Hiroshi replied.

" Oh, interested in the Sand's specialty, are we?" Kankarou replied. The mask disappeared beneath the sand, not before a large tail came swinging out of nowhere. Hiroshi froze as the tail of the scorpion came right up at him, the stinger stopping a centimeter away from his face. Some liquid dripped right out of the sharpened end, and Hiroshi didn't need to be told that it was poison.

" We are tolerant in letting you all learn things from our village, but the again, whatever you learn, you must take it to your grave. Understand?" Kankarou replied dangerously.

" Um…yes…sensei…" Hiroshi stammered, terrified.

" Bwahahaha…I was just scaring you, kid," the voice suddenly replied, changing his tone. " Well, you can learn if you wish, but then puppetry is an advance skill to be learned. I can't show you any pointers myself, since I'm a busy man, but perhaps I can interest you all in a ride," he said.

The tail retracted itself, and all of a sudden, Hiroshi was thrown off his feet as a massive wooden scorpion emerged from the ground. A compartment opened up on both sides of the scorpion, dropping and rolling out a scroll, and a second later, two more scorpions appeared beside the first on, and Hiroshi could observe the two new ones being connected to the first by chakra strings attached to its belly.

" Hop on, people, I'll give you all a ride back," Kankarou said. All of them climbed on board the three scorpions, the leaf genins on one, the sand genins on another, and the jounin senseis taking the one in the middle. As soon as everyone was on, the three wooden scorpions started to move off, heading towards the mould that was of some distance away.

" Well now, you don't look too good, sis. Ran into some trouble?" Kankarou asked.

" You could say that," Temari replied, eying Shikamaru, who looked away and decided not to comment on it.

" Um, a question, if this is a puppet, then where exactly is the puppeteer?" Hiroshi replied.

" Easy, he's inside the scorpion puppet," Ryouta answered.

" What?" Hiroshi exclaimed in surprise. " But I though puppeteers control puppets from the outside."

" Brilliant answer, kid. I like that brain of yours. Well, of course, normal puppeteers control their puppets from the outside. However, the downside of this technique is that since you will need a lot of concentration to use your puppets, you won't be in any position to defend yourself when the attacker focuses its attack on you," Kankarou explained as they moved across the desert, the sound of the wooden feet scurrying across the desert. " Two main ways of countering this: either you stay really hidden, or else you join in combat with the puppet, although the latter technique will reduce your ability to control your puppet precisely very considerably, unless your chakra control of your puppets is top notch."

" So, someone once thought: why don't I hide within my puppet? The puppet could serve as an armour piece, since it's dangerous to approach a puppet directly as you'll need to avoid all the traps planted in its way. After all, using the older technique, one doesn't have to go for the puppet, but the puppeteer himself, who was hidden somewhere. However, in this case, one must attack a puppet itself, and although this announces where exactly the puppeteer is, he is quite well protected if his knowledge in puppetry is good enough. This is no easy feat though. I just picked this up recently over the years and I'm still trying to get used to using a puppet in this fashion."

" Who invented this idea?" Hiroshi asked.

" A criminal from our village," Kankarou answered. Hiroshi didn't say a further word during their trip back to the village.

It didn't take them long. Kankarou's puppets moved with great agility over the sand, and it was interesting to see the wooden legs of the scorpion scuttle across the desert, kicking up sand along the way. It was as if they were looking at a life-sized bug up real close. Also, since it was moving at about 10 times the rate of them if they walked, it took less than an hour to reach the village.

All of them saw a tall wall of sand up ahead, lined with several layers. From the looks, it was just like the surrounding walls of their home village of Konoha, except instead of cement they used sand. The entrance was a small narrow path in the middle of the large sand wall, which made the village look like it was some kind of a fortress. Hiroshi could see a whole lot of shinobi patrolling the outer wall, keeping an eye for anything suspicious.

After a short walked through the narrow path within the wall, they finally reached the village of Sand. Ryouta, Sora and Hiroshi jumped off their mount and took a good look at the place they will be spending some months in.

Apparently, everything here was practically made of sand. The buildings were all grainy and dark yellow in colour, and even if it wasn't directly made of sand, they would have used some kind of a sandy rock. However, they were in the opinion that the buildings were made out of sand, since sand had a pretty mold-able shape, it would explain why some of the buildings and houses had extra extensions of various shapes sticking out of their walls, like large circular domes handing horizontally or bridges made of various shapes all around them.

The village was situated in a depression in the ground, like some large canyon of sorts. Watch towers could be seen at the edges, surrounding the area and being patrolled by guards. People of all age and sizes walked along the streets, although it wasn't as lively as the streets in Konoha.

Overall, it was a slightly depressing sight, to be honest, since the only colours they could mainly see were dark yellow colour of the sand. Some of the houses had a different tone in colour, but that didn't change much of the appearance.

" Kinda…depressing…" Sora admitted.

" Well, yeah…yellow does seem to be a bit too much…but then again, it's the only building material we have here. Reconstruction work is easy using sand, since we have shinobi who can control sand here, to building defenses and buildings are of no problem. In fact, our Kazekage is an excellent sand user and he can build a house in less than a minute," Temari replied.

" That's not possible. No one can amass such amount of chakra to control sand at such a level," Sora replied.

However, right at that moment, there was a rumbling noise somewhere, and all of a sudden, they felt the sand under their feet starting to move. The sand on the ground started to flow towards the middle of the village. Since they were standing at a vantage point of view of the village, they could clearly see what was happening. As if someone was blowing an over-sized balloon somewhere, a sand dome rose in the middle of the village, getting larger and larger until it could no hold anymore space than was allotted.

" That should be my brother at work," Temari said, as the three leaf genins looked wide-eyed in amazement at the scene. " I stand corrected."

-

All of them walked down the busy streets of the Suna village. Hiroshi tried to absorb as much of the sights and sounds of the village. Overall, the village might look a bit drab and dull, but when one took a closer look, it was quite exciting, although honestly, the colour yellow was getting on his nerves.

The market place was quite busy, bustling with people of all sorts. He saw rows and rows of shop houses lines up along the road, selling their wares that ranged from exotic food to lines of clothing to, rather surprisingly, flowers, which was quite strange seeing that flowers don't exactly grow in the desert. Temari brought them all some snacks, a Sand village delicacy: a roasted desert lizard, which had been skinned and heated over charcoal coated with a herb sauce. Sora and Ryouta looked apprehensive at the shriveled up four legged creature that was skewered to a stick, but after seeing Hiroshi enjoying himself, and knowing he was the teams specialist 'cook', they decided to try it anyway, which to their surprise tasted very good.

" For your information, ice cream here is expensive, since it's pretty hard to keep things cold," Makoto replied.

They eventually made their way down to the middle of the village, where the large administration building was held. Temari turned to the six of them and said " Well, we have some business to attend to, so we will meet up with you shortly. Why don't you show your new teammates where they are staying? We will join you shortly," Temari said with a wink. The large scorpion that Kankarou resided within dug itself under the sand and disappeared while Shikamaru followed Temari inside, leaving the 6 genins outside. They stood there for a while, watching their senseis enter the building.

" If you will excuse me, I have business to attend to," Hibiki replied, and before the others could say anything, he leaped up on of the rooftops and jumped away.

" That lousy bloody bugger!" Sora exclaimed, shaking her fists at the general direction where he went. " When I see him the next time I'm going to whoop his ass!"

" Come now, Sora. No violence between teammates…" Ryouta replied.

" Since when has that ever stopped her," Hiroshi commented.

" Hiroshi…" Sora growled.

" See what I mean?" Hiroshi replied, shrugging his shoulders as both Makoto and Suzumi laughed.

---

" I see, so that's what happened," Gaara mused, looking out the window after Temari and Shikamaru had given him a report on the situation. He folded his hands and sighed.

" I have absolutely no idea why they targeted us. Perhaps they thought we were just weak targets and attacked us in such a way. Either way, I don't like it, and this means the southeast path is quite dangerous for now," Temari said.

" But then again, that would be the only path we usually go along between our countries," another female in the room replied. She was present with two other shinobi from Konoha, their headbands prominently displayed on their foreheads. " This will cause serious problems in the future."

" Look, why don't we just check it out? After all, we will be heading back anyway, and we may as well just check it out. After all, Shino and I are good at tracking. We should be able to pick something up on the way back," one of the other two Leaf shinobi spoke up confidently, thumbing his chest. The other one, named Shino, who was standing by the corner, hidden in his thick outfit, merely gave a barely perceptible nod.

" You know, that could be potentially risky. We don't know what we are up against. We might be just lucky to run into a few low-level shinobi. What would you do if the big cheese happens to appear?" Shikamaru asked.

" Hey, you aren't the only jounin in the room, alright?" the other replied.

" I'm just stating that we should use caution, Kiba" Shikamaru sighed.

" He does have a point. There is no harm in us checking the path, and the sooner we determine that there is nothing to worry about, the better. We won't handle anything we can't possibly handle, but you worry about us too much, Shikamaru," Shino replied, speaking for once.

" I'm more worried about Neji finding me when he finds out if something happened to…" Shikamaru said, but he was stopped when the female cracked her knuckles ominously, subtly telling him not to elaborate any further. Shikamaru had enough experience with Sakura to know when to stop, so he promptly shut his mouth.

" Kiba and Shino will be returning soon, and when they make the return trip, I'll return with them when I'm done here. Do you need me to check on you? I'm not doing anything particular at the moment," Sakura suggested to Temari.

" Please, am I that weak, or do I portray myself as such?" Temari scoffed.

" Just worried, you know…" Sakura sighed.

" I'm fine, I'm fine…" Temari replied, waving her hands. " Come on, Shikamaru. Our students are waiting for us."

---

" Wow!"

Hiroshi looked around the room they were provided with. Apparently, Suzumi came from a line of well-known shinobi family, and her family had a rather large mansion, much like the ones he saw back home that belonged the more prominent and famous shinobi clans. As such, her house was big enough to house all of them. Even though she provided them with their spare bedroom, it was still pretty luxurious for their standards.

Hiroshi looked around at the large room. As per usual, the entire place was made out of sand, covering the walls, floors and ceiling. However, the place was very nicely furnished, with soft beds and exquisite furniture mostly made out of wood. The place was colourfully decorated with paintings and decorations to liven up the place. Even the adjourning bathroom was spacious.

" But mine comes with a built in mini-spa," Sora argued.

" Don't wrinkle yourself up, though. Technically, there isn't much of it anyways," Hiroshi remarked. Sora was given another room by herself, which was almost equally as large as the one Hiroshi and Ryouta were sharing with.

" Is this…really alright?" Ryouta asked, looking all around as Sora and Hiroshi tumbled on the floor, with Sora trying to strangle Hiroshi for his previous remark.

" Oh, it's alright. I've already asked my parents for permission, and they said it was alright with them for all of you to stay. Besides, this house is pretty empty most of the time anyway, and we could use some human presence besides me around. Also, if you stay at an inn, it will be more expensive for you. Don't worry about a thing. You are most welcomed here," Suzumi replied.

" Feels too luxurious for me. My bedroom is only about quarter the size, and this even includes the bathroom," Ryouta replied.

" Ah, well…I guess this is really a holiday for you guys," Makoto replied, clapping Ryouta on his back. " Come on, let's show you around. You'll need to see the sights and sounds of our village."

-

Moments later they were back in the streets, walking down shop houses and stalls of various kinds. They mainly visited the marketplace, which was a really lively area. Hiroshi thoroughly enjoyed himself, looking around at all the people things. They brought a few more snacks, one which was a pickled cactus without any spines, before heading out to other areas.

" Oh, what's that?" Hiroshi asked, and they turned around to see him staring at 5 tall sand statues that had been built into the side of the buildings that surrounded the village. The statues depicted five men, standing proud and tall, although the last one on the right was remarkably shorter than the rest of them. Upon further inspection, Hiroshi realized that the last one depicted a teenager.

" Oh that," Makoto exclaimed. " Those are the statues of the Kazekages of our villages."

" Similar to the Hokages we carve upon the mountainside of our village," Ryouta replied.

" You can't be serious, the last one looks like a teenager!" Hiroshi replied.

" Oh, you must mean Gaara of the Desert. Well, in this world, there are people who are younger than you, yet stronger than us. Age is not a barrier to skill amongst us shinobi," Makoto answered. " Isn't that right, Ryouta?" Ryouta merely shrugged his shoulders.

" I find the fact that you know what the heck I was pointing at when you are blind very scary," Hiroshi mused.

" Oh, I already said my sense of hearing is top notch. I could clearly hear where you raised your hand towards, and using sheer memory, I know that the statues are located there and you were pointing towards the area, so I could easily deduce that you were turning your attention to the Kazekage statues. Simple as that..." Makoto replied, smiling.

" I don't think so...you seem to act as if you can see through your forehead protector," Sora objected.

" What nonsense...I can't possibly see through a solid object," Makoto replied non-chalantly. " I mean, do you think that I can see that Sora has silvery white hair, or that Ryouta's skin colour is slightly darker than mine, or that Hiroshi is shorter than I am? Come, people...use logic here. Let's go. Let's head to the training ground and see if there is anyone there."

Makoto then led them off another path and Suzumi followed him closely. " I didn't tell him anything..." Suzumi mouthed as she followed along.

" Um, guys...how the hell did he know all that?" Sora asked, certainly as perplexed as Ryouta and Hiroshi was, as they continued to stare in bewilderment at Makoto.

---

Several minutes later, they were still unable to figure out how Makoto could 'see'. Sora kept coming out with ideas ranging from the fact that Makoto could actually see but was trying to act cool being blind, to the very far-fetched idea what he was actually some long lost descendant of the Hyuuga clan, which doesn't exactly make any sense.

" Explain then, how he could see?" Sora demanded as Ryouta rebuked her for what was probably the 5th time when she explained the Hyuuga descendant theory.

" Your first theory about him not being blind actually makes more sense," Ryouta remarked.

" Then, are you saying I'm am correct?" Sora asked.

" No, I just said the first theory is much more probable," Ryouta replied, observing Makoto who was walking in front of them. " However, it is intriguing. Perhaps it has something to do with the jutsus he knows. Interesting, really..."

" Oh, Makoto, Suzumi!" someone called out aloud. The three leaf shinobi looked up all of a sudden, hearing the voice come from high above. Looking up, they saw several other sand genins looking down towards them, leaning over the roof of one of the buildings. They were not sure what exactly they were doing up there, but Makoto and Suzumi greeted them warmly.

" Oh, it's you guys...are you all practicing up there?" Makoto asked.

" Yeah, sort of...hmm, who are they?" one of the genins asked, looking at the Leaf shinobi.

" Oh, they are sort of like the transfer students from the village of Konoha. They are with us..." Makoto answered.

" Cool! I've always wanted to see whether the Leaf shinobi were any good in a game of tag. Why don't you ask them to join us? We need extra players any way," one of the female genins with bright red hair exclaimed, smiling at the newcomers.

" Excellent...come on, guys...let's go up!" Makoto suggested, leaping up to the rooftop above them, with Suzumi quickly following. Ryouta, Hiroshi and Sora merely looked at each other for a while, not too sure what they were about to play, but then they decided to play anyway, climbing up a second later.

" Hmm, what's this?" Hiroshi asked when he reached the top.

_Writer's note: I'm not too sure whether a roasted desert lizard is a delicacy, but then again, it was some weird thing I thought off. Also, I realise that the Kazekage statues are 'inside' a building, not outside, but I wanted to make a reference to it and just added it. Perhaps it was built somewhere else as well, as a sort of tribute by someone else._


	9. Chapter 8: Genin Games

**Chapter 8: Genin Games**

Hiroshi, Ryouta and Sora were greeted by the sight of five other genin shinobi, not including Makoto and Suzumi, having gathered themselves upon the roof of the building, collecting together what looked like shurikens, except that they were made of sand. It looked like they were packing them within weapon holsters, the basic ones which most of them use. The three of them climbed up the roof to take a look at what they were doing.

" What's this?" Hiroshi asked.

" It's a game of tag, moron...shinobi style," a familiar dark voice replied. Hiroshi turned around to see Hibiki among the five, staring at him darkly. " Then again, it's highly likely that you don't play these games since you aren't from these parts."

" Hibiki..." Makoto said, frowning.

" It doesn't matter...since we've got guest, why don't we ask them to join us in a game. 5-on-5. We've got a perfect team," one of the sand genins replied.

" Hey, wait a minute, even with Hibiki on our side, it's still disadvantageous with Makoto around. He's a pro in this game," the female genin replied.

" Uh...I suck real bad at anything, so I guess I'll even things out," Hiroshi replied, scratching his head.

" Hey, what's with the low self-esteem? Call yourself a shinobi?" Hibiki groaned.

" Oh come now, we aren't here to pick fights. Suzumi and I will join the Leaf genins, since their new at this. How's that?" Makoto suggested. Everyone agreed, nodding their heads, although Hibiki didn't reply.

" Hang on a minute...how the heck do you play this game?" Sora exclaimed.

" Simple," Suzumi replied, picking up one of the weapon holsters they have prepared, packed to the brim with sand shurikens. " We use these and throw them at each other. Whichever team that can score the most hits, wins."

" Isn't that going to hurt, throwing it at each other?" Hiroshi asked.

For a reply, Hibiki took out one of the shurikens and threw it at Hiroshi before he could even react. The shuriken hit him squarely in the head, but instead of cutting him, it broke into tiny particles of sand the moment it hit him, crumbling to bits in the floor. Hiroshi touched the place where he was hit. Some remains of sand stuck to his forehead.

" This sand is compressed and mixed with a weak kind of cement to break upon impact. It hardly hurts, and the sand marks on your body will show how many times you have been hit. This game is good practice for chakra control and physical training," Hibiki said, standing up. " So, how about it, Leaf shinobi? Are you game?"

" Bah, bring it on!" Sora exclaimed, pointing a finger at him.

-

" So, how do you play it again?" Hiroshi asked, taking a look at his weapon holster.

" Well, basically, we need to hit as many shurikens as possible on the opposing team. If we score more hits on them, we win. Just treat them like normal shurikens. This will be the playing area," Makoto said, pointing out the the area where they had gathered. Looking around Hiroshi saw the deserted area of the village, one where there were empty sand buildings, perfect for such a game. Hibiki had taken the other four sand genins to the opposite side of where they were. Hiroshi was now gathered with his two Leaf teammates along with Makoto and Suzumi." Relax, I don't expect you to do brilliantly well, and besides, this is just to have some fun."

" Perhaps I forgot to tell you that I can't throw a shuriken properly to save my life?" Hiroshi muttered.

" He's joking, right?" Makoto asked, facing Sora.

" God, please, if you are blind, act blind," Sora groaned, feeling a bit scared that Makoto would know where she is, not to mention placing his head in the angle where their eyes would meet, that is if he was to look at her. " Well, what do you think that weapon attached on his arm was for? Decoration?"

" I fail in life at throwing weapons...that's the initial reason why I made these," Hiroshi replied, patting the weapon launchers on his arm.

" Um...can't you fit it inside the ...thing?" Suzumi suggested.

" Can't...I have already tried it. The sand shuriken is too brittle, and even attaching it to the weapon launcher will cause it to break," Hiroshi replied, giving a demonstration. He attached one of his shurikens to the piece of equipment. As soon as he locked it into place, it broke apart. " It sort of works as a catapult, so some amount of strain will be applied to the weapon, which will break it since it's meant to be fragile."

" Ah well...we can use you for other things then..." Makoto replied, grinning.

" Hmm?"

" Look, we are put in teams, and this is a team match. Shouldn't this be obvious?" Makoto asked.

-

" I sure don't like this..." Hiroshi said, strolling down the street. He looked behind him, trying to spot any of his teammates, but he couldn't see them. This would mean that they were hiding pretty well. Problem was that it did nothing to ease his anxiety. " Come on, it's just a game, nothing to worry about," Hiroshi said, slapping his face.

He calmly walked down the street, keeping an eye on anyone who was about to throw shurikens at him. His eyes seem to catch movements all around him as he looked left and right. Vision can be deceptive, Iruka sensei used to say, and perhaps his words ring true as of now.

However, all in an instant, two genin shinobi leaped out from one of the empty buildings, one leaping from the first floor building, while the other coming out from the front door. They flung something towards him, and Hiroshi flipped out a windmill shuriken in an instant, spinning it out in front of him to act of a shield of sorts. The sand shurikens hit his windmill shuriken, but he didn't feel the impact. _Clones?_ He thought. _Guess I have nothing to worry about then..._

Hiroshi ran forward. " If they could use clone to distract me, that must mean they are close..." Hiroshi mused to himself. He fired off a couple of wires towards the top of one of the buildings, attaching them to the side of the roof. Securing his wires, he reeled himself upwards towards the roof to get a better look at the surrounding place. However, no sooner than he had reached the top, he noticed that he was instantly covered in a shadow.

Hiroshi immediately detached his wires, and this cause gravity to pull him down, which allowed his face to miss a couple of shurikens being aimed towards his face. Hiroshi executed a roll as he hit the floor, reducing the impact of the fall as he turned to face his opponent.

" Quick reflexes...didn't think you had that in you..." Hibiki replied, smirking. His speech distracted Hiroshi slightly as he felt something fly towards him on the left. The sand shuriken was met with another, both smashed into one another and breaking apart just before it hit his face. Hiroshi wasn't sure who threw that, but he could roughly guess it was Makoto.

" Eat that!" Sora's voice called out loudly from nowhere.

_Perhaps not..._Hiroshi sighed.

" So, Makoto has decided to use you as bait...fine, one target is more than enough," Hibiki laughed, jumping off the roof of the building he was on. Hiroshi leaped back, but another sand genin appeared, and this time, Hiroshi knew, with his limited and lousy knowledge in shinobi lore, that this was no clone.

The shuriken was met with his kunai which he had quickly flipped out. Hibiki and the sand genin attacked at once, throwing another bunch of shurikens. Hiroshi raised his windmill shuriken that was still in his hands to block the attack. He was met with some impact now, but strangely, the items that hit him sounded like they were made of metal and not sand. Hiroshi took a look at the solid brown object that fell to the ground after he stopped it.

" Fakes..." he muttered to himself, looking at the shuriken covered in sand.

It would make sense anyway. Each of them were alloted a limited number of sand shurikens, so they had a limited number of attacks. It would be prudent to only attack when there is a chance of hitting your enemy properly, and using fakes to distract the enemy would be totally useful in this case. Any use of other shinobi equipment is permitted, as long as you don't hit the other party with it.

Hiroshi suddenly felt something wrap around his arms, and before he knew it, someone had nicely wrapped a bunch of wires around his wrists, pinning him to the spot. Someone tugged him powerfully, and he fell to the floor in a heap. First thing he saw when his vision returned focus was something brown flying towards him.

" Take this!" Sora yelled, leaping out from nowhere. With a swing of her leg, she made contact with the ground, and all of a sudden, there was this large cloud of sand surrounding Hiroshi. He heard somethings whiz past his head, shouting somewhere and playful laughter and Sora's voice screaming over all the mess, kicking up more sand all over to provide cover for Hiroshi. A while later, he felt the bonds loosen, and he was dragged aside by a pair of arms.

" Urm, I'm fine..." Hiroshi said sheepishly, looking up at Suzumi dragging him away.

" Gotcha!" one of the female shinobis exclaimed, popping up next to the wall of a building, her legs attached to the wall as she flung a shuriken at Suzumi's direction. Suzumi just made another throw in time, the shurikens deflecting each other slightly as they scrapped each other in mid-air, almost hitting her in the face. Several more shot out from somewhere which forced the female shinobi to back off, and Ryouta came into view.

" Makoto is chasing the rest of them now...let's back off for now while Sora's distraction still stands," Ryouta whispered. Both Hiroshi and Suzumi nodded, and quickly headed down an alleyway to get out of the place.

-

" Took you long enough..." Ryouta said as he spotted Sora leaping over one of the buildings to land next to the area where they were waiting.

" Hey, it's a bit difficult to shake off three people by myself, alright, with no back-up," Sora argued, panting slightly but other than that, she was fine.

" Hey, you were the one who said you could handle it with no problems," Ryouta replied, chuckling.

" Well, that attempt was pretty unsatisfying..." Makoto replied, popping right next to them.

" Did you get them?" Ryouta asked, checking the number of shurikens he had left.

" Nope...not one hit. Hiroshi got them alright, and knowing Hibiki's level of pride, he was sure to go into the open to ensnare his prey. I managed to track down the other two and almost cornered them, but they had already set up some traps and made their escape. Chasing them by myself was pointless, since Hibiki and the rest had already withdrawn at that point, so I decided to come back again. Well, since Hiroshi wasn't hit, miraculously, ours score is tied to zero-zero," Makoto replied, leaning on the wall.

" Sorry I wasn't much of a distraction..." Hiroshi apologised.

" Nah, you were pretty good for a distraction, and frankly, I expected Hibiki himself to come out to attack you. It took me by surprise seeing he took to others as well, and you did pretty well to avoid all three of them at once. Perhaps I shouldn't just assume how Hibiki should act normally. That would be a dangerous assumption. He was quite aware traps were good enough to slow me down and had them set up earlier," Makoto explained.

" Traps?" Hiroshi mused.

" Traps are inanimate, and Makoto obviously can't see them. It's harder for him to detect traps than we can, since he can't see. If it doesn't move, it will be hard for Makoto to figure out where the trap is, besides his sense of touch and smell," Suzumi replied.

" That was a brilliant skirmish...I haven't had much fun in a long time..." Ryouta said, grinning. " What shall we do next, eh?

-

" Hmm, me as bait again..." Hiroshi muttered to himself as he walked down in the open along a deserted street.

His attention was brought up to some movement above him. He looked upwards along the lines of the rooftops, but he could see nothing. However, he was quite sure someone was up there, right now. Unlike the previous round, perhaps they were more cautious now. If they knew Hiroshi couldn't throw a shuriken properly, perhaps they wouldn't be hiding that much right now.

Hiroshi paused in his walk. They were obviously not making a move on him this time, that was for sure. He took a look around the place. The rest of his team had placed themselves around the area, and Hiroshi himself wasn't too sure where they were. Now, to get a rat out of its hole.

With one swift movement, Hiroshi leaped up towards one of the rooftops, bracing for an attack, but none came. As he took a good look around, he couldn't see anything or anyone visible on the top. He assumed they were hiding pretty well. Making sure there were no obvious traps, he walked along the rooftop this time, keeping an eye out for anyone. He had no guarantee that any of his teammates were keeping an eye on him right now since he was one level higher than ground level, so he was extra cautious when walking around. He came to a stop a while later.

Looking down, he could barely see the tripwire being set up at that point. His knowledge in traps allowed him to figure out that the wire was either set to trigger off some trap somewhere, or it just served as a distraction for another trap, since he could spot it rather easily. He tried to analyze the place, and he couldn't find another trap set up within 20 meters in diameter around the place.

" Well...let's try then..." Hiroshi mused.

Flipping out a kunai and jumping back several feet, he threw it at the wire, snapping it in half. Nothing happened. The next second, he felt himself being peppered with hits, and looking down, he saw he had been hit several times in the chest with the sand shurikens.

" Are you that dumb?!" Hibiki asked, glaring at him.

Hiroshi grabbed his collar, and surprisingly, yanked out a layer of his clothing, which turned out to be a metal plate, nicely camouflaged to fit with his attire. Tossing the plate aside, Hiroshi grinned back at him, saying " That doesn't count, right?"

" Pfft!" Hibiki replied, leaping aside, as several other sand shurikens came towards his direction, striking the ground where he stood a second ago. Both Ryouta and Makoto leaped out from below and threw several shurikens in his direction. The next second, he had detached his spear from his back and was now twirling it all around, knocking all the shuriken's being shot at him aside, breaking them apart.

Hiroshi immediately fired several wires at Hibiki, and snagged his spear. He tried to yank his weapon away to loosen it from Hiroshi's grip, but it was futile. The wires were attached to Hiroshi's weapon launcher, and since Hiroshi had now dropped to the ground, Hibiki will either have to leave his weapon aside or risk getting hit.

Two more genins appeared to support him, and Ryouta and Makoto started throwing shurikens at them, knocking the shurikens in mid-air most of the time. The rest of them appeared, and there was a long match between them throwing shurikens at each other, with Hiroshi and Hibiki stuck in the middle of the fight. Having given up on trying to free his weapon from Hiroshi's clutches, he dropped his weapon and ran towards Hiroshi.

He flicked out two shurikens from his weapon holster, twirling them in his fingers. However, before he managed to threw them, Hiroshi detached the set of wires he had attached to his spear he had thrown aside and fired another set towards his arm. Snagging his arm nicely, he gave a tug, but Hibiki was quick enough to steady himself. However, he wasn't quick enough to avoid Sora, who had appeared right behind him, from crushing his hand, breaking the shurikens in his hands to bits, staining his hands with sand marks.

" Score!" Sora yelled.

" What?!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" Well, I crushed that shuriken in your hand, and in real life, it would have cut you already, so that's one point, right?" Sora exclaimed excitedly. " We have conveniently run out of sand shurikens to throw at each other, so this means the match is over. Awesome...I knew I was going to score anyway!"

" Tch!" Hibiki scowled, brushing off the sand from his hands.

" Well, totally unconventional, but then again, I guess she is right in a way...I must admit, that was a weird way to score a point in this game," one of the sand genins replied. The rest of them started laughing, and most of them joined in, with Sora grinning maniacally among them.

" Looks like you people had some fun..." Temari's voice piped up. The rest of them looked up, only to see Temari sitting by one of the higher rooftops, and Shikamaru standing right next to her. " Never played this game when I was a kid...guess you could say I had a deprived childhood."

" Yeah! We beat you! Come on, say it!" Sora said, extending a finger towards Hibiki, who had his back towards her.

He glared at her for a second, before replying " Yeah, you win, I'd give you that..." and leaping off he rooftop.

"Oi!" Sora yelled.

" Hahaha, don't mind him...after all, he did admit defeat..." Makoto said.

" Sore loser!"

-

They had returned to Suzumi's residence, and having seated themselves around the table, were now feasting themselves with the meals that had been provided by Suzumi's servants. The table was full of tempura and teriyaki dishes, and Sora was helping herself with a lot of gusto, eating twice as much as the boys were.

" Yum, this is good," Sora exclaimed, gobbling down another tempura fish " Suzumi, this is an awesome meal!"

" Hmm...glad you like it..." Suzumi said, smiling awkwardly. The servants gave her a scathing look at the way she ate.

" Sora, this isn't a battle, you don't need to be so heated up when you eat," Shikamaru groaned.

" Ah, but this is how I eat!" Sora said. " Are you going to finish that?"

" Hey, damn it, that's mine!" Hiroshi said, taking his rice bowl and placing it as far as possible from Sora " If you need seconds, go get them yourself, not from my rice bowl."

" Sure is lively..." Makoto chuckled.

" Sure is..." Ryouta replied, eating his food quietly.

" Hey, sensei, what missions are we going to have? Are we going to hunt missing nins? Beat up some bandits? Some assassination mission?" Sora asked all of a sudden.

" Why do you ask that all of a sudden?" Shikamaru asked, frowning.

" Because...well, just because," Sora answered.

" Nothing along that lines, but I assure you it won't exactly be really boring," Temari said, smiling.

" Hmm...I take your word for that..." Sora said, gobbling down her food. She started wolfing down whatever was left in front of her, finishing the rest of the food. To say her appetite was enormous was an understatement. The rest of them could probably guess where here insane amount of spare energy would be channeled towards. Hiroshi always found it funny she could stay in shape despite the way she ate. Most girls her age were worried about their looks, and half of them at least dieted at least once.

Not Sora though. It was as if her metabolism in her body was running full-time, all the time. She had eaten the same amount as Ryouta, Makoto and Hiroshi, and only stopped because there was nothing left to hit from the table.

" You know, I've never seen her eat this much back in our village..." Ryouta whispered to Hiroshi.

" Well, if you don't tempt her with food right in front of her, she won't..." Hiroshi replied. Looking at Suzumi, he noticed she looked a bit down. " Something the matter?"

" Hmm, oh..nothing...it's just..." she sighed " Well, I just wished Hibiki could join us as well..."


	10. Chapter 9: Spar

**Chapter 9: Spar**

" Well, this is certainly refreshing..." Ryouta replied, sinking his body into the pool of hot, steaming water, allowing his body to soak up the heat. He sighed in content, dipping his body ever so gingerly, allowing his body to acclimatise to the heat of the pool. He dipped the towel he had with him in the hot water and draped it over his head, allowing the hot water to run down all over his face.

" Hmm..." Hiroshi mused, covering half his head under water.

" You seem down..." Ryouta remarked.

" Well, honestly, I usually take baths by myself..." Hiroshi admitted.

" There is always time for change..." Makoto laughed, throwing his hands over Hiroshi.

" You are too close for comfort..." Hiroshi replied.

This remark made Ryouta and Makoto take the nearby buckets and started filling it with water, dousing Hiroshi with hot water over and over again. Hiroshi retaliated by jumping up and throwing water all over the place. Their shouts and cries could be heard several feet away, where the other girls were soaking themselves in a separate pool.

" Man, those boys sure are noisy," Sora sighed. Suzumi merely giggled.

" I must say, this is one pretty luxurious place you have here. A large house, an outdoor spa...I'm envious..." Sora admitted.

" Well...it's just that my family has been well-established in the Sand village as master puppeteers, and we have a long history lasting even before the founding of the village. That's why...much like the more famous clans you have in your village. I'm sure they live in houses quite similar to mine," Suzumi replied.

" You come from a line of puppeteers? Wow!" Sora replied, quite surprised.

" It's nothing to brag about..." Suzumi replied sadly. " As much as I wanted to take up my family tradition, I apparently don't have much skill for it. I've never really had talent, nor the interest for that sort of thing. I've tried, but I guess I just disappoint my parents most of the time..."

" Hmph!" Sora grunted.

" Eh?" Suzumi exclaimed, surprised at Sora's reaction.

" Bah, forget about family duty and all that crap. There is no point in learning a concept one never wants to put to heart. I, for one, believe that you should take whatever path that you truly believe in. As long as your heart is pure and true, that's a true way to becoming a shinobi. Do what you can excel in, and what you believe you can achieve. That's what I truly feel..." Sora replied.

Suzumi smiled slightly, then replied " You may be right..."

" What do you specialise in, by the way? I've seen that Makoto is an expert in using elemental ninjutsu, along the lines of Ryouta, except his elemental affinity is probably wind, if I'm not mistaken, and he's close to Ryouta's level in terms of usage. Hibiki is a more of a melee combatant, using a spear, much like I am. I haven't seen you in combat as of yet, so I don't know of your capabilities," Sora asked.

" Poisons..." Suzumi said.

" Eh?" Sora asked, raising her eyebrows.

" Well, actually, I'm trying to specialise as a medic-nin, but I mainly use poisons and genjutsu in my attacks. I use a variety of them, most of them to enhance my usage in genjutsu," Suzumi said, smiling.

" Hmm, I personally dislike poison users..." Sora mused. Seeing Suzumi's expression, she continued with " Allow me to rephrase that again: I dislike going up against poison users. They are darn irritating, and really, I doubt my constitution is enough to withstand most poisons."

" I don't think so...I figure you are pretty strong yourself..." Suzumi admitted.

" Well yeah, us girls need to show the guys we can stand up for ourselves...I've always lived trying to prove a valid point," Sora replied, getting out of the pool and drying herself with a towel nearby. " But then again, I've always trashed Hiroshi, so perhaps my point has been long proven. Anyway, I'm not going to soak that long. I'd probably wrinkle up too quickly."

Sora excused herself, and left the pool to get dressed. It was pretty late, although it was pretty hard for her to get tired, so she decided to walk around the house trying to find something to do. She quickly dressed herself and ran off outside, deciding that she would enjoy the sights of the village at night.

It was pretty cold, as deserts always are in the middle of the night, but she was tough enough to withstand the cold despite not wearing anything else than her normal attire, which was only suitable for daytimes in the desert. The cold, chilly winds bite against her legs and arms, but she didn't falter. In fact, she decided it was good training.

" What are you doing out here dressed like that?" a familiar voice called out.

She spun around and spotted Hibiki perched on top of the roof of the building opposite Suzumi's residence. He sat there, glaring at her, his spear already equipped in his hand, although he had not yet extracted its blade. She glared back at him, wondering what was his attitude all about.

" What's your problem, damn it? If you got something to say, then say it, coward, and not run around throwing me scathing looks all the time. Why, got angry cos a girl whooped your ass?" Sora asked, grinning mischievously.

" That's nothing to be proud of..." Hibiki replied darkly.

" Heh, what, you want a real match? I'm all yours, damn it. It's good to exercise after a meal," Sora said, crackling her knuckles. " Perhaps I should just beat some sense into that dumb brain of yours, then maybe you'll start treating me with some respect."

" The only respect you'd be getting is my spear up your ass. Don't blame me if I beat the crap out of you," Hibiki replied, sanding up, flipping his spear in both his hands.

" You are on!" Sora exclaimed.

Crouching slightly, Sora suddenly leaped up at him, flying at him at a tremendous speed, her powerful legs launching her up towards him. Hibiki struck with his spear, stabbing it forward, but Sora tapped it aside with two fingers, knocking the spear out of her way as she continued to fly towards him. Hibiki raised his hand to intercept the punch that came towards his face. There was a loud thud when her fist made contact with the palm of his hand.

She flipped in mid-air, her legs reaching out to hit him, but Hibiki backed off fast enough to avoid the blow. Sora didn't let up, and as soon as her feet touched the landing on the rooftop, she launched into a flurry of strikes, her arms shooting in all directions. All her hits came in contact with his spear as he spun it around with expert precision, making sure he was well protected by his weapon. Sora threw a punch, but there was something different about this one. Hibiki saw the hand coming, but his eyes caught sight of a second hand, as if he was seeing double, coming in from the right.

He dropped to the ground in an instant. He had deduced that the hit was a dangerous one, since he could feel chakra within her hands, and whatever it was building up inside her palm wasn't going to be nice when hit. He rolled back and flung a few shurikens in her direction, forcing her to back up. She didn't, however, and just merely knocked the small metal weapons aside with her fingers. Hibiki threw a few more at her direction, which she deftly handled by tapping them aside just using her fingers, catching two when she had seen through his attack pattern.

" That style...looks like some sort of a martial arts style from your village," Hibiki admitted.

" A little variation from the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist, but really, I only use this to knock aside weapons...other than that, I prefer to use real brute force," she said, snarling as she threw the shurikens she caught at him. He twisted his spear around, knocking the things to the ground, but Sora took that time to spin around behind him, and he barely caught a glimpse of her flying behind him.

_Fast, and not even using any chakra control to her feet, but pure force using her muscles..._Hibiki thought.

Sora swung her arm, aiming for his head. Hibiki ducked in an instant, but her foot came flying towards his face. Gathering chakra to his feet, he shot out a burst, making him spin aside as her kick missed his face. He tapped her slightly with the end of his spear, knocking her off balance slightly. As she tried to regain her composure, he leaped back several feet and held his spear in front of him, his body preparing for an attack. He shot out at once, and Sora saw a blur of movement as he suddenly seem to disappear as he dashed at her.

It was to Hibiki's surprise that his spear was met with considerable resistance. There was a powerful crash, and the sound reverberated in the night air, ringing all around the place. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Sora having slammed two of her fists onto the blade to stop it from hitting her squarely in her face, the spears edge barely touching her nose.

_How is this possible...my attack should have enough force to pierce through metal, and she stopped it with her bare fists..._Hibiki thought.

" So, you are really serious, huh? Guess you are...focusing your strength and forcing all the power towards the end of your blade...I must commend you on having such skill. Now, it's my turn to show of my specialty," she said.

Her hand moved quickly, sliding under his spear and tapping it aside as her hand reached out for his face. Hibiki felt the impact of her palm on his face, but she merely attempted to push him down, pressing his face and throwing him down. She drew her hand back, but Hibiki knew this wasn't any punch, since he could sense the chakra build-up in her arms.

He acted at the last second. Just as she was about to hit him, he threw up his arms with all his strength, and rolled aside at the last second. This threw her back at the last second, but her attack still continued. As he steadied himself, he saw a smoking crack on top of the ground they were on, even though her fist never touched the surface.

" Sonic waves..." Hibiki muttered.

" Yeah, pretty much..." Sora said, grinning at him.

" It's hard to believe that you can alter chakra into sonic waves in an instant, even without seals..." Hibiki replied, gritting his teeth.

" Oh no, I didn't do any elemental manipulation..." Sora admitted. Hibiki was visibly surprised at this. Sora picked up one of the shurikens that Hibiki had thrown earlier that was on the ground and tossed it in the air, and as soon as it reach eye level, she raised her right hand next to it and snapped her fingers right at the shuriken. Her hands didn't make any contact with the shuriken, but it was suddenly propelled forward towards Hibiki, but it didn't come at a dangerous speed, so Hibiki merely caught it in his hand. As he did, he could feel the shuriken vibrate slightly.

_I get it now...she has somehow found out how to fine-tune her body to move in angles and speeds that will cause her to create ripples in the air to act as waves...which means she could punch the air and send forward a small shock wave because her hands were moving at supersonic speeds..._Hibiki thought.

" Looks like you've figured out my technique, no?" Sora laughed.

" Tch, that's nothing..." Hibiki replied arrogantly.

" Yeap, you are right," she said. Sora's hand suddenly started to form seals, making three in total, ending with the Tiger seal. Hibiki felt an intense collection of chakra in her hand, and as she threw her hand to the ground, cracks started forming along the floor. " Because taijutsu isn't the only thing I know."

Hibiki reacted immediately, tossing his spear in the air and forming seals of his own. Sora saw that, and attacked him immediately. He finished his jutsu before she managed to attack him, and even though she flew at him at supersonic speeds, he managed a replacement technique in time, and her fist slammed against a slab of sand.

The block of sand burst into a thousand particles, turning back to the minute pieces that once formed it. The shockwave created from the attack blew the sand all over the place, before a rush of wind took over. Sora looked around, trying to spot her target. There were blurry images of Hibiki circling around him. _Genjutsu...no, it's some wind based ninjutsu used to trick my senses..._Sora felt.

" Come..." Hibiki replied.

Sora moved out of instinct, just going with whatever her senses told her, and they told her Hibiki was to her right. She was right, and she shot at him at an insane speed, her arm reaching out to hit him, as she herself saw the edge of the spear flying at break-neck speed towards her. They then seem to pause in their attack, Sora's hand right at Hibiki's face, while his spear at her neck.

" Are you two trying to kill each other?" Makoto asked calmly.

Sora took a good look at what had happened. Both Makoto and Ryouta had interrupted the match: Makoto holding Hibiki by his neck while his other hand on his spear, while Ryouta caught Sora's hand, and his free hand in a shape of a seal. She felt that her hand had lost an amount of chakra, and she figured that he had nullified her attack. However, it would be hard pressed for Ryouta to hold her off when she executed her best attack, and as suspected, she found that something had managed to stop her besides Ryouta.

" For a sparing match, it's getting a bit too heated up, don't you agree?" Shikamaru asked, his Shadow manipulation technique binding them to their spot as he caught both their shadows, stopping them from moving any further. " Sora, your 'Sonic Blow' technique is too dangerous to use in a spar unless closely supervised by experts, you know that very well. Were you trying to blow his brains out?"

" Hey, he started to fight first, and he came at me with all he got..."

" You could have just backed off..."

" Me?! Back off?!"

" Sora!" Shikamaru exclaimed, this time sternly.

" Tch!" she replied.

" And what right did you have to use your 'Windwalk' technique on Sora? What were you thinking?" Makoto demanded.

" What would you know?" Hibiki scowled.

" It's time you put aside your differences and..."

" Easy for you to say, after whatever happened to your parents! What would you know about me?!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" Hibiki!" someone shouted loudly. Everyone spun around to look at Suzumi, who had gathered at the front gate of her house along with Hiroshi. She looked up at them, and it seemed like she was on the verge of tears.

" How can you say such spiteful things to Makoto? Didn't you even consider his position? His feelings? Do you really think he feels as such?! How can you be such a spiteful bastard?!" Suzumi exclaimed. And this time there was no stopping it: she broke down crying. All of them looked at her sadly, not sure what to say.

" Why...why...why are we fighting against ourselves?...I...I...just wanted to meet new friends form the Leaf...that's all...was it just so hard to accept?" Suzumi sobbed. She dropped to her knees and covered her face, sobbing loudly. Hiroshi looked pretty dumbfounded, not too sure whether trying to comfort her right now would be a good idea or not.

" Release me..." Hibiki said quietly. Makoto merely kept quiet. " Release me...I'm not going to fight anymore."

Shikamaru released his Shadow Manipulation technique on both Sora and Hibiki, and both Makoto and Ryouta released their grips on their teammates respectively. Hibiki leaped off the rooftop and landed next to Suzumi, who was still crying.

" Suzumi...I'm sorry..." he said apologetically. Hibiki could actually sense that he meant it, although he wasn't sure whether he was sorry about starting the fight or he was attempting to stop her form crying as it was making him feel guilty. Hiroshi suspected it was the latter.

" Go away..." Suzumi said withing sobs.

" Suzumi...I'm sorry...please don't cry..." Hibiki pleaded.

The next reply took everyone by surprise. Suzumi stopped crying at once, and then looked up at him and stuck out her tongue in a playful manner, although it looked real silly as tears still fell down her cheek. " You are a real jerk, you know that Hibiki...it takes me to start crying before you feel sorry..." she said. The tone in her voice indicated that she was pulling their legs and wasn't really crying in the first place. She then started grinning mischievously at him, her brilliant teeth flashing at him.

It took a few moments before Hibiki could string a sentence together. " Urm...someone please tell me I'm trapped in one of Suzumi's genjutsus..." he said, scratching his head.

" Unfortunately, I would say it isn't..." Makoto said, grinning." I must say, Suzumi, that was a brilliant performance there...you got me totally..."

Suzumi walked up to Hibiki and slapped him in the face. " That's for being a jerk! Should have done this in the first place to avoid any of this nonsense..." she said, slapping him repeatedly over and over. Hiroshi felt that she was now acting like some lover who was totally disappointed in Hibiki's attitude towards her.

" Hey, damn it...stop slapping me..." Hibiki said, raising his arms to defend himself. He may have no qualms about beating up Sora, but he was not about to lay a finger on Suzumi so easily, so he merely allowed her to have her way. The rest of them started laughing, seeing now that Suzumi had broken up the tense atmosphere.

" Excellent...now since everything is settled, let's get some sleep people..." Suzumi said, motioning for the rest of them to come in. As they did so, she turned on Hibiki once more, and he flinched, as if expecting another hit from her. " Apologise to her, Hibiki. You owe her that much."

Sora glared at him as he glared back. After a while, he turned his head aside and said " Hmm..." under his breath.

" You darn prick, that was no apology!" Sora exclaimed, her finger pointing at him.

" Coming from him, it should suffice. Allow me to return her to her proper place before she does anymore damage," Ryouta said. With that, he dragged her back inside Suzumi's residence, along with the help of Hiroshi, who held her by her legs. Makoto and Shikamaru followed quickly, leaving Suzumi and Hibiki outside.

" Want to come in? I can always supply a place for you, and you should know you are always welcomed in my house," Suzumi invited.

" No, thank you...I don't think I deserve your hospitality at the moment," Hibiki replied quietly.

" Hmm..." she mused, turning around and going back into her house.

" Suzumi?"

" Yes?" she asked, turning around.

" I'm...really sorry..."

---

" Damn, if they allowed me one extra second, I would have beaten the crap, and some sense, into that idiot. Hmm, to think I was this close to teaching him some manners," Sora grunted, folding her arms. " But then, man, that was really nice of you to bitch-slap him in such a fashion."

" That wasn't..." Suzumi started.

" It was a figure of speech, I didn't mean it that way..." Sora sighed, lying down on the mattress that was provided, stretching herself. She had exerted a bit too much in her fight with Hibiki, although the strain wasn't that bad. She yawned loudly and noisily, feeling tired now. " Hmm, well, all in all, that was some pretty good exercise. Now with that, I think I can get some good night's sleep."

Suzumi watched Sora tuck herself in, covering herself with the blanket and lying down on the mattress that was provided. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, and Suzumi was quite surprised at the rate she could fall asleep so easily.

" That's one noisy girl..." Makoto sighed, leaning against the door.

" Hmm, perhaps..." Suzumi said, getting up and leaving the room. " You don't mind staying with the other two guys, don't you?"

" Me? We are having too much fun playing card games right now, I doubt we will be sleeping anytime soon," Makoto chuckled.

" Are you freaking them out again by being able to guess what cards you have at the moment?" Suzumi asked, smiling.

" Hmm, yes...I wonder how long it will take for them to realise my trick?" Makoto said, leaving the place, heading down the corridor.

" Um...Makoto...?"

" Yeah, Suzumi?"

" You don't hate Hibiki for that statement, do you?" Suzumi asked timidly.

" No...I'm a pretty understanding person. I can understand why he dislikes our Leaf comrades, and I sympathise with him. But he'll come to understand one day that he cannot hate them forever. After all," Makoto replied, turning around to smile at her " We are no longer enemies."

Suzumi returned a smile of her own. " Yes, that's true," she answered.


	11. Chapter 10: The Puppeteer

**Chapter 10: The Puppeteer**

Hiroshi yawned as he woke up. The sun had already rose from the horizon, and from his room's window, the bright, orange and rather irritating rays of the sun entered the room, waking him up. He noticed that Hiroshi and Makoto had already left, and from the temperature of their mattresses, they had been up and about for some time now. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and got out of bed.

It didn't take too long for him to get ready. Training in becoming a shinobi, Hiroshi dressed himself, cleaning himself, and suited himself up within 10 minutes, and he was ready for the rest of the day. As he got out of his room, he spotted Suzumi sitting around in the living room, looking at a whole load of puppets which were hung on the wall.

" Hmm, what are you doing?" Hiroshi asked curiously.

" Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise. " Well...um, nothing really...just looking at the puppets my parents have."

Hiroshi took a good look around him. Along the walls of the living room, a vast amount of puppets and puppet parts hung on the wall on full display, all bearing marks of wear and tear: a broken part here, a chipped off piece there. They came in all shapes and sizes, most of them resembling animals or insects, although there were a few that looked humanoid in shape. Most of the weapons and equipments that were once stored inside the puppet had been removed, leaving only the harmless, empty shell.

" Makoto and Ryouta had gotten up an hour ago, and I assume they are sparing among themselves in the training grounds. They should be back soon. Sora has gone off to wander around in the city, and I haven't seen Hibiki around this morning," Suzumi replied.

" I see..." Hiroshi mused.

" Is Sora still angry with Hibiki?" Suzumi asked.

" Bah, she gets worked up with everyone. She's fine I tell you..." Hiroshi said, although that was his interpretation of what he felt Sora felt when she spoke to him last night. He wasn't sure of the details of the fight the night before, and Sora always had a habit of exaggerating events or altering truths. Whatever she said had to be taken with a pinch of salt, especially when she says something with a raised voice.

" I just hope you can forgive Hibiki for his actions. There is a reason why he acts like this," Suzumi said. Hiroshi looked at her curiously as she started to look all around her, as if expecting someone to show up suddenly. " Um, promise you won't tell anyone what I'm going to tell you?"

" Eh?"

" Promise!"

" Hmm, yes, I promise..." Hiroshi said, not too sure what he was getting himself involved in.

" It's just that some years ago, our village once launched war against yours in an alliance with the Sound. It was costly battle for us as the Sound managed to hit both sides as well, tricking our side in the end," Suzumi explained. Hiroshi remembered it well. He was very young at that time, although he had heard a lot from other people about the attack.

" Hibiki's parents were the few who had joined in the siege, and they were killed in the fight with the Leafs. Since then, he has always blamed the Leafs for the death of his parents, whom he was pretty close with. He also lost his siblings in the war, literally his whole family lost in one attack. Honestly, it isn't your fault, but you can't really blame him for hating you people. It was honestly our fault, but perhaps we have been fighting alongside for too long to forgive that easily," Suzumi explained.

Hiroshi stared at her as he quietly absorbed the story. He figured he couldn't blame him entirely, even though it was really their fault anyway. All he could managed was to give her wry smile. " You don't hate me, do you?" he asked.

" No, of course not," she said, smiling back.

A moment of awkward silence.

" Are you interested in the puppets?" Suzumi asked.

" Well, I must say they are an interesting way to fight...how do you use them anyway?" Hiroshi asked, feeling intrigued.

" Simple..." Suzumi said. Hiroshi saw her raise up her hand and strings from each finger shot forward, attaching themselves to one of the puppets hanging on the wall. She started to flow chakra into the strings, and the lines of chakra soon reached the puppet. Hiroshi's eyes widened in surprise as the puppet of what looked like a very ugly looking human jumped off the wall and stood in the middle of the living room, it's head cocked sideways.

" Hmm, very ugly looking human puppet..." Hiroshi replied.

" It's supposed to be ugly...it's a crow," Suzumi replied, giggling.

" Crow? Doesn't look remotely like a crow. Like, where is it's beak, and where are it's wings?" Hiroshi asked, raising his eyebrows.

" It doesn't exactly have to look like a crow, you know..." Suzumi said.

" How'd you do that? Controlling a puppet?" Hiroshi asked.

" Basic movements can be done by simply flowing chakra along these chakra lines to animate the body. Once you charge chakra into the puppet, you can then slowly move it about depending on how you control your chakra. It takes a bit of practice, but you might get the hang of it. Here, try it," Suzumi said, offering the strings to him.

" Eh? What? Me control them?" Hiroshi asked.

" I'm not good at this sort of thing, so I guess you'll just have to try it out yourself," Suzumi said.

Hiroshi took the strings, and as he did, the puppet collapsed onto the ground as it lost its chakra flow. Hiroshi channeled his chakra to his finger tips, which was quite difficult for him. However, after a while, he managed to attach the strings to his fingertips. However, the puppet stayed lifeless on the floor.

" Um, Hiroshi, you are just channeling chakra to your fingertips to make the strings stick to you, that's all," Suzumi said.

" Oh...I see..." Hiroshi replied. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on flowing the chakra into the strings. It took some effort, but he managed to feel his chakra move through his fingertips and through the wire. He saw the strings started to colour with his chakra, and soon enough, the chakra lines connected with the puppet. Hiroshi gave a slight tug, and the puppet jumped back to life, although this time it's head was twirling round and round its axis.

" Is it supposed to do that?" Hiroshi asked.

" Nope...you are making it do that somehow..." Suzumi giggled.

" Hmm..." Hiroshi mused, twitching his fingers again. This time the puppet dropped to the floor and started making waving motions with its hands, as if it was trying to swim in water somehow. Suzumi couldn't stop herself from laughing. " Hmm, I guess I don't have talent in this stuff as well..."

" No, you do actually. It's actually pretty hard for beginners to actually be able to even move the puppet. You are doing pretty well moving it, although not exactly the way you want it though..." Suzumi said.

Both of the were interrupted by the arrival of someone. They turned around to see who had entered the room.

" Temari sensei has asked us to gather outside the main entrance in one hour. She has a mission ready for us," Hibiki replied before leaving almost instantly.

---

" Oh, looks like all of you are here on time," Shikamaru said, walking up to the front gate seeing his students and Temari's all having gathered there, a cigarette in his mouth.

" Sensei, it's you who is late!" Sora exclaimed, pointing a finger at him.

" I'm 10 minutes early," he objected. " Besides, what the heck is Hiroshi doing?"

Ryouta, Makoto, Sora and Suzumi turned to Hiroshi, who was standing by the entrance of the village, playing with a puppet, multiple chakra strings attached to his fingers. He was now attempting to move a smaller version of the 'crow' puppet, with some success, since he managed to make it walk around now, although its head keeps spinning around for whatever the reason. Hibiki attempted to ignore all of them.

" Um, it's just a puppet I gave Hiroshi to play with..." Suzumi admitted.

" How cute!" Temari replied, smiling.

" Hey!" Hiroshi exclaimed loudly, blushing.

" Um, sensei, who is that?" Ryouta asked, seeing a young lady standing behind Shikamaru and Temari.

" Hey, my name's Haruno Sakura, and all of you will be helping me on a mission for the next few days," the young girl replied. The 6 of them took a good look at the newcomer. She was a Leaf shinobi, obvious from the Leaf forehead protector that she had tied to her head. She had brilliant pink hair and bright green eyes. She mainly wore a red vest that covered her chest and short cargo pants, along with fingerless gloves with matching colours. Hiroshi was quick to notice that she had a medical pack slung along her belt behind her.

" Ah, Haruno Sakura!? You can't mean you are the famous apprentice of the Slug-lady, Tsunade-sama, the Fifth Hokage of the Leaf?!" Suzumi exclaimed excitedly.

She looked at Shikamaru. " Have you been telling them about me?" she asked, scowling.

" Hey, don't look at me like that!" Shikamaru shot back, sighing.

Suzumi walked up to Sakura, her eyes seem to be sparkling. " Wow, I've heard a lot about your exploits, and your incredible skill. Take me under your tutelage!" Suzumi exclaimed.

Sakura turned around, looking at Temari, hoping she had some explanation for her students excited and strange behavior. Temari merely shrugged her shoulders, saying " Well, she's a medic-nin in training, and I'm sure she has heard a lot about your skills. Don't blame me."

" Well, I can't exactly take you under my tutelage, since we aren't exactly from the same village, not to mention I'm not a jounin as of yet, but I'll be glad to share some pointers while we have some time together," Sakura said, patting Suzumi on the head. " Geez, I'm getting too famous around these parts..."

" Yeah, well said..." Shikamaru muttered.

" Is she really that good?" Makoto asked, whispering into Ryouta's ear.

" Well, she is said to be as good as the fifth, so yeah, I guess so...I mean, comparative to their medical skills, that is..." Ryouta answered.

" Are you insane?! Of course she is! She is said to be able to neutralise any type of poisons just by looking at it and analysing it for no more than 10 seconds. I'd like you to find someone else to beat that!...besides Tsunade-sama, that is..." Hiroshi exclaimed, mindful to keep his voice low.

" So, what's the mission for today?" Ryouta asked cheerfully.

" Well, we've got a D-rank mission lined up," Sakura said.

Sora gave a loud groan.

" Basically, we will be off to some of the mountain ranges along this country. The objective of the mission this time is to go herb collecting," Sakura explained.

" Sounds...boring?" Sora replied.

" Maybe, but herb collecting is an essential part to maintain the shinobi forces of the Sand village. You see, since it's a harsh and dry place here, it is very difficult to grow plants here, besides those that survive well in the desert. Thus, unlike our Fire country, it's hard to get useful medicinal plants and herbs in these parts. We collect most of the herbs and plants we can find and bring them back to the village where we attempt to grow them in the greenhouses. So, we are now off to collect as much herbs as we can to fill up our stores for future use," Sakura explained.

" Geez, why can't you all just ask some bunch of people to go gather these herbs?" Sora sighed.

" The problem is these plants usually grow in areas only accessible to us shinobi due to our versatility, like canyon ledges or dangerous areas where normal people usually don't travel across. Besides, only shinobis have knowledge in what herbs that are useful to us, especially the more important ones. It would be troublesome if we share information with common people who are pretty much defenseless when attacked by foreign shinobi. We need to preserve our secrets from our enemies," Makoto answered.

" Hmm..." Sora sighed.

" Think of it as a camping trip. We will be off for sometime like a week, so I assume you all are ready," Sakura said. All of them went through their stuff and then nodded their heads, signifying they were ready. The nine of them exited the main entrance and headed east, with Sakura leading the way.

---

They had a fairly pleasant trip, since there was no sense of urgency in doing this mission as they could take their time. They took frequent breaks, resting every so often and attempting to catch 'snacks' to save their food reserves, which mainly consisted of desert animals, like snakes and lizards. Most of them were poisonous, but Makoto was an expert in catching them, and Ryouta picked up his skills quickly, and with Hiroshi at the helm of cooking their meals they had an enjoyable trip.

It took them one whole day to reach their destination, which was the Silver Canyon, a long canyon that stretched for miles along the country's border. There was barely any greenery around the area, save for a bunch of cactuses around the place. There was some amount of greenery right at the bottom of the canyon where there is some supply of water. Hiroshi gulped as he saw the depth of the canyon. It was pretty deep, and the sides were very steep.

" Relax, we aren't going to let you kill yourself by making you fall off the cliff's end. If I'm not mistaken, you can't do chakra control to stick vertically, right?" Shikamaru said.

" What's that?" Hiroshi asked, curiously.

As a reply, Ryouta clasped his hands for a second as he gathered his chakra for a while, then walked off the cliff. Hiroshi was about to exclaim out loud when he saw Ryouta stick along the cliff, standing straight on a vertical plane.

" Well, your teammate has answered my reply," Shikamaru replied.

" Um, they don't exactly teach this to us in the academy…" Hiroshi said, scratching his head. " Although we kinda understand the basics though, but I never master them."

" What's this? You don't teach your students such stuff in school? Tsk, tsk, tsk…no wonder you all are so weak," Temari joked.

" If that's the case would you please stop copying our cocurriculum ," Shikamaru groaned.

" Will I need to master that?" Hiroshi asked.

" It's not an exact prerequisite, but then again, almost all shinobis can generally walk vertically or stand on non-solid objects, namely water, so I'd suggest that you learn quickly enough. It would be much more convenient that way anyway. Ryouta, since you are way ahead of these two, why don't you teach them?" Shikamaru suggested.

" Hmm? Why don't you teach me, sensei?" Hiroshi asked.

" It's too troublesome," Shikamaru answered.

" I don't need that kind of training! I can scale walls easily!" Sora exclaimed.

" What?! I wasn't aware…"

Shikamaru didn't manage to finish his sentence because Sora leaped off the cliff, sliding down the sheer rock face of the canyon. All of them peered down at her as she slid down the rocky wall with ease. However, Sora wasn't using any chakra control to descend the wall. She was using mere gravity to drop her down, and the strength of her fingers to slow her fall along the wall. It took several seconds before she reached the bottom.

" Nyah! I'm awesome!" her voice came echoing back.

" You sure have troublesome students," Sakura replied.

" Yeah…I sure do…" Shikamaru sighed.

-

They had managed to reach the bottom of the canyon a while later, and Hiroshi managed to climb down with some help. They managed to find a dried up stream, which Temari explained was usually dry around this season and will be flooded with water when the rainy season arrives in the next few months. There were some amount of green plants around the place, and Hiroshi could very well feel the humidity of the place, which was strange since several feet above them was a hot and dry desert.

The canyon was a rather beautiful place. There were a number of trees around the area, along with short bushes and plenty of flowering plants, scattered in disarray all over the dark brown floor. The soil was pretty wet and damp, not to mention rich with fertile soil, unlike the desert grounds. It was as if he had already stepped out of the desert and walked into another country.

" Oooh…" Suzumi gasped, looking at a intricate flower that had dark rich purple colours. It also had a sweet scent to it, and it was rather alluring, both in smell and sight.

" Bah, that's one ugly looking piece of crap…" Sora exclaimed, taking one glance at the flower and looking away. " Any of you planning to hit on me better not give me flowers, or I'll beat you inside-out."

" We sort of know that already…" Hiroshi whispered to Suzumi. Glancing at Sakura to give him permission, he gently pluck out the flower. Unrolling out a scroll, he sealed the flower within the scroll. " I'll give it back to you when we get back."

Hiroshi was suddenly aware that there were sand particles falling all over the place. Looking up, he saw that a sand storm was brewing.

" Well, enough sight-seeing for now. Let's find some cover before we all get covered in sand," Temari said.

A minute later, they have managed to set up their tents under the cover of one of the rocks sticking out from the cliffs, and huddled inside one of them to keep out from the sandstorm temporarily. As they were stuck in the tent for a while, Ryouta asked " Well, how are we supposed to go herb collecting then?"

Sakura took out three scrolls and tossed it towards the genins. They caught the scrolls and opened them, looking at the contents. Inside were detailed descriptions of a whole list of plants and herbs of all sorts of varieties, and with colour pictures to boot. Hiroshi was forced to share a scroll with Ryouta and Sora since he wasn't too sure if Hibiki was in a mood to share. In fact, he could almost sense a palpable collection of clouds around him as he sat quietly by the corner, looking at one of the scrolls.

" Inside is a whole list of the herbs we are quite likely to find in the canyon. Read through the whole scroll, and you will be able to see all the plants we will be collecting. I've taken the effort to jot down all its properties and information about the plant, if you people even bother to read," Sakura said, smiling at them.

" Hey, there are like 50 different plants and herbs here! You want us to remember all of them?!" Sora exclaimed incredulously.

" If I can remember all 4590 different plants and herbs scattered throughout the entire world all over the countries, I'm sure 50 plants should be no problem to the rest of you, especially since you are so young," Sakura commented.

" What, and you are an old hag already?!" Sora asked.

-

The hours that passed later were quite quiet. Nobody was about to argue about Sakura's vast knowledge in medicine, and even now, Hiroshi was bent over one of the scrolls, engrossed in what was written down upon it, while Suzumi was busy asking Sakura tips, and she happily told her what she knew. Shikamaru and Temari had set up another tent right beside the first one, and had quietly adjourned to the second tent, talking amongst themselves. None of them bothered to disturb them.

Dinner had already been prepared by Hiroshi, who had expertly whipped up an amazing stew with some mushrooms they found growing nearby. The canyon was also rich in spices, and flavouring the stew was of no problem. Hiroshi kept to himself, reading about the scroll intently. However, Sora was unable to contain the excitement to herself.

" Did you freaking see that?!" Sora whispered loudly.

" What I saw was that Sakura sensei almost killed you for such a casual remark...my God, you are a female and yet you have the balls to say such tactless...nevermind, you don't have balls anyway..." Ryouta sighed.

Indeed, it had been quite a hilarious incident, or rather scary, depending on who was looking at it, when Sora called Sakura an old hag. To everyone's surprise, Sakura then launched an attempt to beat the crap out of Sora, and she would have succeeded if Shikamaru wasn't quick enough to catch her with his shadow manipulation technique. However, some damaged had already been done, and there was a whole pile of rubble right next to their tent where Sakura had landed her fist upon. Her punch landed upon the canyon wall, and a ton worth of rocks fell down. Shikamaru only released her when she promised she won't kill anyone after that, which was about ½ an hour.

" Perhaps that's why she isn't a jounin as of yet..." Makoto chuckled under his breath.

" I could care less...she's awesome!" Sora replied. All of them talked quietly among themselves, as if talking loudly would cause Sakura to rampage on them once more.

" She almost crushed you with that fists of hers," Ryouta commented.

" Did you notice her attack?" Sora asked.

" Um, you are asking the wrong person here. I can't see...besides knowing that she has a lot of destructive power..." Makoto replied.

" Listen, her ability to wield such enormous power doesn't come from her own strength. You should notice that she doesn't have too much of a muscular build. So, her strength doesn't come from muscles, but from perfect chakra control..." Sora explained.

" Hmm, how does that work?" Ryouta asked, clearly surprised.

" She amplifies her strength by using chakra control. Right at the moment of impact, she releases a certain amount of chakra out from her fists, melding it into whatever she hits. Instant force from the chakra will break the physical forces that hold things in place, especially solid, and thus her super strength is born. This is actually a rare technique, as not many people can do it. To perfectly execute such an attack, one's chakra control has not only to be good, it must be perfect, and when I say perfect, I mean that one has to utilise it 100, which is actually a rare feat, since almost nobody can actually do that. Basic ways to amplify ones strength is by using chakra to propel ones hand forward, using momentum, but Sakura's ability saves a lot of chakra. The amount of energy spent when she punches would be about equivalent to you punching me, except that she can break rocks. Thus, this being said, I must say she's a damn good medic-nin if her chakra control is perfect," Sora gave a lengthy explanation.

The rest of them looked at her curiously, giving her weird looks. Even Hiroshi stopped reading the herb scroll list and looked at her.

" What?" she asked, noticing all four boys, including Hibiki even though he sat by himself, looked at her.

" You are surprisingly knowledgeable when it comes to combat, especially in terms of taijutsu. I've always thought of you as being a dumb person," Ryouta answered finally. All of them could see the veins popping in her head.

" Hmm, I wonder whether she would be nice enough to teach me that technique..." Sora mused.

" What for? Using your brute strength, I've seen you bend steel, and mixed with your ninjutsu ability to create sonic waves, you are pretty dangerous yourself. Why don't you focus on those parts?" Makoto suggested.

" Well, if I could mix my strength with her chakra control, it's be pretty cool, wouldn't it?" she asked.

" Geez, having that strength and call yourself female. We don't need another ox, do we?" Hibiki replied.

All of them turned to look at him surprisingly, even Suzumi and Sakura. This was the only words he had said all day, not to mention it was in the form of a joke.

Writer's note: Yes, I know. The name Silver Canyon sounds dumb and cliched, not to mention it sounds more American, but I can't think of a witty Japanese name to give it, since I suck at Japanese anyway. Also, I had no idea why I included Sakura into the mix. I just thought of some simple, herb collecting mission (inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics Advance...the first mission you would take), and I just added her just for fun.


	12. Chapter 11: Sensing Trouble

**Chapter 11: Sensing Trouble**

Shikamaru was awaken by the sound of one of the genins leaving the tent, and he sat bolt upright. From the amount of light that was coming through his tent, he figured that it would not be 6 in the morning as of yet, and looking at his watch to make sure, it was in fact four in the morning. Shikamaru wasn't too sure what this genin was up to, but perhaps he or she just wanted to stretch for a while before going back to sleep. After all, they had been stuck in the their tents for more than 12 hours already, and he was quite sure they were quite restless by now, since he was already quite restless himself.

He tried to go back to sleep, but seconds later, he was awoken again by some noises, and he grumpily got up, straining his ears, he tried to listen to whatever that was making the noise. His guess was the genin who woke up, and from whatever he was hearing, it sounded like the genin was running along the area and falling down.

" Hmm, I wonder what Hiroshi is up to right now?" he mused, slowly getting out of his small sleeping bag, making sure to keep quiet in order not to wake Temari and Sakura. Hiroshi was the only genin he could think off who would be attempting something that had to do with running and falling down. His second guess was Suzumi, but then again, she was still sound asleep in his tent, so that cannot be possible.

Getting out of his tent and walking some distance away, he spotted Hiroshi immediately. Shikamaru raised his eyebrows as he saw Hiroshi, who clasped his hands together, not to form seals for a jutsu, but merely as a means to channel his chakra. Once he was done, Hiroshi ran forward towards the wall of the canyon and started to run up the vertical wall. Shikamaru was quite surprised that he managed to run three steps before falling off.

_So that was what he was doing..._Shimakaru thought to himself.

" Eh? Sensei?" Hiroshi asked, looking up at Shikamaru while still lying on his back. " I thought that I didn't disturb anyone when I left."

" Well, I got up early anyway...you didn't wake me up," Shikamaru lied.

" Why?"

" Hmm, because I have to keep an eye on things, what else?" Shikamaru said, taking out a cigarette.

" But I don't think I see Temari sensei waking up..." Hiroshi objected.

" She was up the other half of the night, and besides, I've got a bunch of troublesome students to take care of, and that means I can't slack too much..." Shikamaru said. He found his lighter, and flicked it open, lighting his cigarette. " Anyway, I see that you are hard at work. It's refreshing to see hardworking genins...come to think of it, I wasn't a very hard working genin myself."

" Hmm, you don't like being a genin?" Hiroshi asked, curiously.

" Not really, but I'm not sure either," Shikamaru answered vaguely. He then laid himself on the floor, looking up at the dark sky, illuminated by a large full-moon. " Never had the change to enjoy much of a genin's life. I was only a genin for about a couple of months."

" I see..." Hiroshi mused, before realising the implications of his sensei's remarks a second later. He immediately jumped to his feet within a second. " You became a chuunin in less than half a year after graduating from the academy!?"

" Um, yeah...why?" Shimakaru asked, wondering what was the fuss all about.

" And you became a jounin in one year!?"

" Hey, I didn't say that! I became a jounin much later..." Shikamaru answered.

Hiroshi looked at his sensei for a while, then said " You know, sensei, you are quite a remarkable sensei, but then again, I feel you are pretty lazy."

Shikamaru looked at Hiroshi, then chuckled. " You know what? You are mot certainly right," he answered. " Now, why don't you continue doing what you were doing before I arrived? We certainly don't want to waste the morning, do we?"

A couple of hours had passed, and Hiroshi made another attempt to scale the canyon wall. Shikamaru was even nice enough, or perhaps the better word was feeling hardworking enough, to flatten and roughen out a long track along the wall to make Hiroshi's wall scaling practice much easier with a flattened and roughened out surface. Shikamaru looked on as Hiroshi ran up the wall. If it was anything, Hiroshi managed to advance up the wall for four more steps, one step per half an hour. _Could one call this progress?_ Shikamaru thought.

Several steps along, Hiroshi started to lose his footing, and slipped down. He had managed to slide down several more feet before falling off this time, landing on his back for what should be the 50th time so far.

" Ouch..." Hiroshi groaned. " Man, am I slow..."

" That's quite an improvement actually for two hours worth of practice," Shikamaru said.

" Are you really saying that, or are you saying that just to please me?" Hiroshi asked.

" I'm not going to answer that question honestly," Shikamaru replied, getting up after lying down for two hours. He stretched himself, yawning loudly. " Well, that should be enough for today..."

" Eh?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Don't exert yourself too much, it's bad for the body," Shikamaru said. " Unless if you really want to continue exercise, you could help me warm up."

Hiroshi wasn't sure whether he heard his sensei correctly. " Help you warm up?" Hiroshi repeated the words.

" How about a spar?" Shikamaru suggested.

" What?"

" I'm sure you understood what I just said, right?"

" Yes, but why?"

" A personal test. I've already sparred with Ryouta and Sora already to measure their skills in shinobi arts. I would like to check you out as well," Shikamaru said.

" I suck..."

" I know that. I just wanted to see how bad you sucked..." Shikamaru said. From the look on his sensei's face, it was either a joke, or a very crude joke. Knowing his sensei, he figured it was the first option. " Come at me with all you got. Don't hold back."

" Don't hold back?" Hiroshi asked.

" Yes. Ryouta managed to cut my cheek, and Sora managed to knock the cigarette out of my mouth. Let's see what you are capable of, shall we?" Shikamaru asked. Hiroshi thought for a while, then decided the prospect of fighting his sensei would prove interesting.

" Alright, let's do this," Hiroshi exclaimed excitedly. He dug into his pack and retrieved 4 scrolls. Shikamaru watched with some amusement as Hiroshi loaded two scrolls into his weapon launcher. Clicking the shutter on each of his weapons shut, he attacked.

Hiroshi immediately flipped out three shurikens and threw them at Shikamaru. Shikamaru was about to move when Hiroshi's attack struck him a a bit funny. He never threw projectile weapons before properly, and there was no reason that he should. The three shurikens missed as Shikamaru expected, but he was now caught in a stance that prepared him for a jump. Catching him slightly unaware, Hiroshi aimed both launchers at him, and fired a barrage of weapons at him, kunais and shurikens flying all about.

Hiroshi then saw his sensei execute a flip he wouldn't thought he would perform. Shikamaru took one glance at the weapons that flew in his direction, and braced himself. Just as he was about to get hit, Shikamaru performed a backflip, his body arching gracefully as all the weapons flew past him, and missed. The second he landed, Shikamaru managed to escape the barrage unharmed, not to mention catch three shurikens and a kunai in the process, which he started playing with in his hands.

" I said don't hold back," Shikamaru said, grinning.

Hiroshi glared wide-eyed in surprise as his sensei, before breaking into a grin as well. " Understood!" he exclaimed.

Hiroshi immediately fired an array of needles at Shikamaru, who dodged it pretty easily. Hiroshi then started to circle around the place, continuing to fire needles at him. _He's planning to place me in position for an attack, not to mention using needles to keep me at bay. He knows I can easily counter other projectiles by throwing them in kind, and needles isn't something I'm good in using...a much too direct method, but I'm interested in what he plans to do_ Shikamaru thought, moving in position to see what Hiroshi had planned for him.

Hiroshi flung several shurikens in the air. Shikamaru looked up slightly, watching the small star shaped weapons fly in the air, high above his head. Shikamaru wondered if they were part of some distraction, because they were too far off to deal any damage to him, and from the point of trajectory, they would fall 5 feet before him. Hiroshi then fired another line of weapons, this time in the shape of a wave.

Shikamaru threw the shurikens he had in his hand towards the small wave of weapons, knocking them in mid-air. As soon as he had done that, he saw Hiroshi's finger twitch, and something thin, almost invisible, forming a line in front of him. Shikamaru whipped his hands upwards, knocking the shurikens that Hiroshi threw in the air aside as they suddenly shot towards him.

_Not bad, using wires to change the direction while I was momentarily distracted with an attack at eye level. He's better than he claims he is..._Shikamaru thought.

Hiroshi wasn't letting up, and from what Shikamaru could see, he was having quite some fun. He had managed to use his newly invented weapon launcher very well, and Shikamaru was impressed at the level of skill he was displaying. He now flung five kunais at him, but Shikamaru noticed that they were all off the mark. They flew past him in the shape of a crude circle, going past him as Hiroshi fired five more as soon as his weapons flew past Shikamaru. However, Shikamaru was quick enough to notice that the kunais were attached to wires. He took a fleeting glance behind him.

He saw the strangest thing ever. The kunais what Hiroshi had shot past him, stopped in mid-air, spun around with their sharp edge facing Shikamaru, paused in mind-air for the slightest of a fraction of a second before shotting back at Shikamaru. Shikamaru managed to fling himself aside to avoid being sandwiched by two on-coming bunch of kunais.

_He's using puppetry skills to attack earlier. From what I saw, his skills in puppetry shouldn't be that advanced,_ Shikamaru thought. He analysed Hiroshi's weapon for a second, then realised that he had most of his wires attached to his weapon launcher. _I see, he's using mainly mechanics along with his very limited knowledge of puppetry he had picked up to launch attacks in mid-air and altering their attack directions after being thrown, much like throwing a puppet around, except instead of using chakra lines, he's using mechanical lines as well._

Shikamaru saw Hiroshi flung another set of kunais past him, and Shikamaru knew all too well he was repeating his attack, in a sort of way. He was merely feinting. He knew Hiroshi too well. There was no way in hell he would perform a similar attack, unless he had some reason for it.

And so he did. Instead of using kunais, this time, Hiroshi decided to use windmill shurikens. Shikamaru spotted the kunais dissipate into five large windmill shurikens, all of them whirling menacingly behind him for a second before flying towards him. This time, they flew around him in a circle, encompassing him, blocking his escape routes. Shikamaru was left with one option: at dash forward, which would mean he would place much less distance between himself and his student. Shikamaru complied anyway, dashing forward as the windmill shurikens reached where he stood a second ago, crashing loudly into one another. However, Shikamaru felt his student collect an amount of chakra, and he looked up to see him form the necessary seals.

" Wind Release: Wind Bullet!"

Much to Shikamaru's astonishment, an invisible globe shot out of Hiroshi's mouth, distorting the image of the area around it as it shot towards Shikamaru at breakneck speed. How he managed to execute that jutsu was of no concern right now: Hiroshi just did. Shikamaru dropped to the ground as he felt the blast of wind shot behind his back, scraping his hair and blasting the nearby canyon wall, forming a crack.

" Wow...I did it...I really did it..." Hiroshi exclaimed.

" You know, in the midst of battle, there is no time for you to actually pause and contemplate on how good you executed your jutsu," Shikamaru remarked.

" But...I did it!" Hiroshi exclaimed, as if he was receiving a very large birthday present.

" Hmm, yes, you did, and that's good..." Shikamaru said. Hiroshi did a little jig on the spot, like some victory dance. He had apparently forgotten that he was sparring with his sensei seconds ago, but Shikamaru was willing to forgive him for being this elated, using his first ninjutsu skill ever. " Well then, I guess this ends our sparing match."

_Overall, he's better than he thinks he is. He's skilled in using weapons, and he's pretty crafty himself. Moreover, he didn't utilise his skills fully. I didn't have to encounter any explosive tags, even though he had them. I wonder why did didn't use them?...He didn't want to wake the rest of them up, perhaps?_

---

" Is that breakfast I smell?" Sora asked, poking her head out of the tent.

" I assume that will be it," Shikamaru said, biting on one of the roast lizards Hiroshi had prepared over a open fire. Sora sleepily got out, and she was closely followed by the rest of them, with Hibiki leaving the last.

" Where the heck is Hiroshi?! He's missing," Sora exclaimed. Shikamaru pointed to somewhere towards his right. They turned around and saw that Hiroshi was attempting to try his hand at puppetry again, but this time not using a puppet, but trying to animate the number of kunais that he had thrown on the floor. He was having some success, throwing up and making his kunais fly all over using just wires attached to them by chakra.

" Wow, hardworking bastard!" Sora exclaimed. " Alright, I'm training with him next!"

" Hey, have you forgotten what we came here to do?" Sakura exclaimed, poking her head out of her tent.

After a quick breakfast and clearing up of their tents, all of them headed off to look around for herbs. They went about, trying to remember what plants were useful and what were not. Suzumi and Hiroshi managed to memorise most of the herbs in the list already, so there was no problem in them finding out stuff by themselves. Ryouta and Makoto shared one scroll, and they were usually in a deep discussion whether the plant or flower they found was of any use, like a bunch of scholars in some deep philosophical talk. Sora was usually making a mess around the place, walking all over the place, unable to tell whether she was looking at the correct plant or not. Hibiki looked like he wasn't too interested.

" Sigh, looks like it will be up to us nerds to get the job done..." Hiroshi sighed to Suzumi in a joking manner. He spotted one of the small round white flowers again, and slowly plucked it up from the ground, loosening the soil first with his kunai. Rolling out a scroll Sakura had supplied them, he wiped a bit of blood on the scroll and sealed the flower within it.

" Yes, I agree..." Suzumi replied, smiling at him as she sealed another plant in her scroll as well.

They continued on for a while until the afternoon, with most of them having a lot of fun gathering the needed plants, the most memorable one was where Sora got rather surprised both Ryouta and Makoto collected a cactus, and a rather large one at that. They had a short break, where Sakura mainly taught Suzumi medical arts, with the rest of them watching her learn medical jutsu with some interest, with Hiroshi acting as a test subject because they were unable to find any spare desert animals around. They moved off later again in the afternoon.

" Oh come on now. Even with my helpless skill, not to mention I'm partnered with a blind shinobi, you should be doing better than me," Ryouta teased.

" Agreed," Makoto, Suzumi and Hiroshi replied.

" Damn you...don't think you are very smart, alright, Hiroshi? We are just collecting a bunch of inanimate plants! Don't be so proud of yourself! You haven't got me beaten yet!" Sora yelled angrily.

" Man, and you'd think she'd at least try picking some flowers..." Hiroshi teased.

" Hey, remember, the person with the least amount of plants collected will have to cook dinner tonight. Remember our challenge? In fact, at the rate you are going, I think I can very easily slack off now," Ryouta remembered her.

" Hey, we still have Hibiki to consider. He hasn't picked a thing as well..." Sora replied.

Not to be put down, Hibiki rolled out his scroll for them to see. To Sora's dismay, and to everyone else's glee, Hibiki had actually collected two plants himself, beating Sora's score by two points.

" Strange, I didn't see him do anything..." Sora grumbled.

" Um, just to let you know, Hibiki is quite skilled in puppetry as well, and with that, his knowledge is poisonous plants is pretty good, so no surprise there really. He just doesn't use puppets," Suzumi answered.

" That was uncalled for..." Hibiki replied. With that, Suzumi shot him another pitiful look, almost as good as the one she did last night. Hibiki stopped in his tracks when he saw Suzumi gave him that expression, but softened up when she started laughing at him.

" I guess I know very well how to control him..." Suzumi giggled. The rest of the laughed along with her, even Sora, feeling that at least she had scored some sort of hit on his pride. Hibiki turned away, not wanted to speak to them. He turned behind them to see Sakura following close, with Shikamaru and Temari tailing behind them.

" Well, that's nice...they seem to be getting along well enough..." Temari replied, smiling.

" I'm more worried about that spear wielding dude," Shikamaru admitted.

" Ah, Hibiki's a fine kid, and a fine shinobi as well. He just doesn't warm up to you Leaf heathens that easily. That's pretty typical of him," Temari answered.

" I wonder where did I hear that phrase before..." Shikamaru replied absentmindedly.

" And what are you two up to?" Sakura asked coyly.

" Well, what do you know? Give us 5 minutes of privacy and you will see..." Temari replied. Sakura merely smiled at them.

" Did you tell your students about..."

" Why? Do you have a problem with that?" Temari interjected.

" Perhaps..." Shikamaru sighed.

However, their senses suddenly picked up something out of the ordinary. Temari was the first to sense it. There was a little whistling sound in the air, and she reacted immediately. Her fan was out in the next second, and with one powerful spin, she knocked an in-coming kunai aimed for her head aside. However, Shikamaru was the first to notice the explosive tags tied to it, and he saw that there were more than one of them tied to the kunai.

It came to all the genins surprise when they heard the loud explosion. Spinning around, they saw that someone had blown up part of the canyon, and Sakura along with their sensei had disappeared behind a wall of smoke and dust.

" Sensei!" Suzumi exclaimed in horror.

" I'm fine..how about you all?" Temari cried back. The three of them had managed to leap back just in time as the blast went off, and were unharmed. Shikamaru looked up trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. To the untrained eye, there was nobody around, but Shikamaru could spot several people having camouflaged themselves on the canyon wall.

" Rock-nins?" Sakura exclaimed.

All of a sudden, there was a massive shudder, as if an earthquake had occurred. All of them expected to be attacked by some Earth type ninjutsu, so they leaped back respectively, with the genins forming a tight circle. However, this was to be a mistake on heir part. A large solid wall of earth started to form in-between the jounins and the genins. Before any of them could do anything, a tall solid wall of stone formed between them, stretching up to the top of the canyon.

" They've separated us!" Temari exclaimed, sounding alarmed.

" Well, that's pretty obvious!" Shikamaru shot back.

Grunting, Sakura leaped forward and slammed her fist upon the rock wall. However, instead of smashing apart, her hand was met with some resistance, and she felt like she had hit a very hard piece of jelly. There was a sort of barrier on the rock wall that separated them, and she saw ripples coming out from where she had hit.

" That was really close," a feminine voice called out.

Sakura looked upwards to see who it was. A young female shinobi with wild spiky red hair stood along the wall, and beneath her feet a seal was planted upon the rock wall. She was dressed in a simple vest and short pants. She tied her forehead protector to her neck, which signified that she was from the village of Hidden Sound, or used to be, since it was supposedly in ruins now. Other figures started to materialise around, and the three of them could clearly see that they were surrounded.

" Not Rock-nins...rogue nins apparently..." Shikamaru replied. " Tch, why didn't we notice them sooner?"

" You pride yourself too much in your skill, Shikamaru-kun, until you could not realise that you've actually walked into my genjutsu. Are your skills only limited to such? A disappointment really, for a jounin of the Leaf. I expected better," the female shinobi laughed haughtily.

" Do I know you?" Shikamaru asked, raising his eyebrows.

" Nope, but I think you should know this very well..." the female shinobi said. The three of them looked up at her, then gasped in surprise. They saw a familiar sight, one they thought they would never see again. Her eyes turned red, and there were the unmistakable three tomoes in each eye, all three of them swirling around in her eyes in a circle.

" It...it can't be..." Sakura gasped, lost for words.

_Writer's note: Forgive me two week absence. I lost the data for my fanfic and had to start over. Sigh  
_

_I'm not sure exactly how long Shikamaru was a genin and when exactly did he take the Chuunin Select Exam after he graduated from the Academy, but I was under the impression that it was very, very short. I'm assuming it was merely a couple of months._


	13. Chapter 12: The Dust of Death

**Chapter 12: The Dust of Death**

" Hey, what's the big idea?" Sora exclaimed looking at the thick rock wall that now separated them from their senseis. She ran up to the wall and pounded on the surface, as if it would break apart if she did that.

" Strange…" Makoto replied.

" What is?" Hiroshi asked.

" There isn't any sound…" he replied. Looking at Hiroshi's confused expression, he continued " If they were attacked by other shinobis, they would at least do something about it. It's strange not to hear anything from their side. Why is that so?"

" Either they were promptly knocked out, or we have been affected by some sort of genjutsu. But then again, both of them doesn't make any sense, since we are considering our jounin senseis here, they wouldn't go down that easily, not to mention I don't think we are being affected by genjutsu either," Ryouta explained.

" Then what is going on here?!" Sora yelled.

" I don't know…" Ryouta said. Dropping to his knees, he performed some sort of ninjutsu. Slamming his hands on the ground after he was done making his seals, he exclaimed " Earth Release: Rock Return Technique!" Hiroshi felt some flow of chakra in the ground, but after several seconds, nothing happened.

" I doubt I have that much capability in dropping this stone wall, but however, my chakra seemed to be blocked by some sort of barrier. I'm guessing they have placed some sort of powerfully seal upon this wall to prevent us from breaking it. The wall didn't budge an inch even with my technique," Ryouta said, sounding worried.

" If we can't use ninjutsu to remove it, then let's try blasting it aside!" Sora exclaimed. Charging an immense amount of chakra to the palm of her hand, she disappeared for a second, only to return upon the rock wall, slamming her fists upon it. There was a loud sonic boom when she made impact, and Hiroshi felt the ground vibrate slightly from the sonic blast she emitted from the blow. However, the wall was unharmed, as Ryouta expected.

" Was that even supposed to do anything?" Hibiki asked.

" Sora can use shock waves to break apart steal. The wall is obviously protected, by some high level seal barrier," Ryouta answered.

" Is there anyway to break it?" Suzumi asked.

" Well yes, there is but…"

Ryouta never got the chance to finish his sentence, because at the exact moment, there was a loud rippling noise in the air, similar to the sonic boom Sora had created. A multitude of cracks appeared along the wall, and within the next second, large chucks of rock started to break off from the canyon walls, collapsing all around them. Sora leaped back in time as the rocks fell all over her, skidding to a safe distance away. However, the cracks along the walls started to lengthen and expend, and the canyon started to collapse all around them.

" Run!" Makoto exclaimed. He didn't need to tell really. The rest of them tore down the canyon range as soon as they saw the walls caving in on them.

---

" The…The…Sharingan…?" Sakura gasped, not believing what she saw.

" Whoo, guess you do know a bit about me now," the female shinobi replied, grinning happily at them.

" Sakura, relax," Shikamaru said, taking out another cigarette and lighting it. He took a deep breath, and exhaled all the smoke in his lungs. " That is not the Sharingan. The Uchiha has stayed dead, and I doubt anyone else has the last of the bloodline ability than the ones we already know. This is a genjutsu, and you are falling for it."

" But…I don't feel like I'm…" Sakura started.

" Calm down. This is not your regular genjutsu. Normal genjutsu is used by sending in your own chakra to create illusions to the opponent's senses. Your chakra control should tell you that you are not affected by foreign chakra, but this is still genjutsu. It's merely a very big henge jutsu being used here," Shikamaru explained.

" What?" Sakura exclaimed.

" Here, can you feel me from this?" Shikamaru asked. Sakura felt something scrap her legs, and she saw a shuriken by the side. Shikamaru had just thrown a shuriken at her. This doesn't make sense, since she was now seeing him standing right in front of her, and he didn't move an inch. Moreover, from the direction of the shuriken was thrown, Shikamaru was…

" I'm behind you actually…" he said. Sakura took a look around again. The shuriken he had thrown earlier had now disappeared.

" Listen, we are now trapped in a very large illusion, and I suspect the seal barrier they have set up here doesn't only disrupts your ability to crush that wall, but also enhances their illusionary tactics. Think of it like they have performed a very large henge jutsu over a 500 meter radius. What you see isn't exactly real right now. Our positions are also fake, and the enemy is doing so to disrupt us. Trust me. I'm right behind you right now, and Temari is on your right, not your left. That's our current position. Whatever else you see is fake," Shikamaru replied.

" Wow, to figure that out so fast, Shikamaru. No wonder you are hailed as the 'Tactician of the Leaf'," the female shinobi replied, the illusionary vision of her having the Sharingan still around, her hands to her hips now.

" Damn, I hate being famous. It's just really a pain in the rear end," Shikamaru sighed. " They are buying for time."

" What?" Temari exclaimed.

" You are going after the genins. May I ask why?" Shikamaru asked, frowning.

" Wouldn't you like to know?" the female shinobi teased, snapping her fingers. The world around them started to distort, and soon enough, they had dizzying visions of them spinning all around the place, unable to stop their vision from spinning as the world around them turned awry.

" Calm down…let me think for a minute…" Shikamaru said, kneeling down and clasping his hands together, forming the seal he would use all the time when he seriously needed to think.

---

" Suzumi!" Hiroshi exclaimed loudly as he saw a particularly large piece of rock detached itself from the canyon wall and fell right above the female genin. She caught sight of the large boulder, and held her arms over her head in a reflex reaction in hopes that her hands could somehow shield herself from the large solid piece of object.

That was not the case, and thus Sora had to act. Skidding to a halt, he focused her chakra to her hands once more. With expert precision and excellent timing, she leaped up high, smashing her palm against the rock. Her strength alone was enough to knock the boulder aside, making it crash into pieces by the side. Hibiki made a grab for Suzumi, and yanked her backwards.

" Thank you...guys..." she gasped, glad she was still breathing after almost being crushed by a large rock.

" Hey, don't mention it..." Sora said, giving Suzumi her best grin.

The attack was done, and they had now moved themselves at least a hundred meters away from the rock wall that someone had set up earlier. The rocks stopped falling, and there was some silence in the air, save for the crumbling rocks that peeled off the canyon walls. All of them stopped running, figuring that there will be no point in running any further. They formed another protective circle once again, pressing their backs against each other, guarding each others backs against whatever they are facing. Nothing showed up, not the slightest hint of the presence of an enemy. Only the sound of wind was carried in their ears, and their slightly ragged breathing.

" Makoto!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" I'm on it," Makoto exclaimed, his hands in a flurry. " Sound Echo Dome Technique!" he exclaimed as he slammed his palms together. He then suddenly blew a sharp whistle all of a sudden, and it hurt Hiroshi's ears for a while. Hiroshi raised his eyebrows. If that jutsu was supposed to do something, he clearly wasn't seeing it.

" Your left, 40 feet up, take 23 degrees to the left!" Makoto suddenly exclaimed.

Hibiki immediately armed his spear, the sharp end shooting out from the inside of the spear. Leaning back, he threw the spear with all his might. The spear flew in the air and landed against the canyon wall, not before they saw an almost invisible figure jump away to avoid being hit. Ryouta fired a large fireball in the enemy's direction, blowing up a large area along the rock face. As he made the fire die down, there were dark, charred spots on the rock wall, but their enemy was relatively unharmed.

" Impressive, for a blind shinobi," the man said. He wore a thick vest, like those worn in the Sand village, but somehow, he gave off an aura that told them he was a Rock-nin, or a former Rock-nin at any rate. He had a thick, muscular body, and his bulging muscles were all out for display.

" What the heck did he do?" Hiroshi asked.

" Echoes...even though he is camouflaged, he can't escape my sound," Makoto replied.

" I'm hoping you won't put up any resistance. I dislike collecting you all in pieces," the man said dangerously. They twitched slightly when he said that. " Come quietly, and I promise nobody will need to get hurt."

" This guy is definitely at a jounin level...I can feel it," Makoto said, a bead of sweat dropping down the side of his forehead.

" What are we to do? Fight?" Sora asked.

" Are you nuts?" Hiroshi whispered loudly.

" We don't have much of a choice. He may want us to follow him quietly, but I don't like the notion of that. It's 6 against 1. We have a numerical advantage, and if we can work together, we can beat him, I'm sure of it," Ryouta said confidently, smiling slightly.

" I'm up for a fight. Want to listen?" Makoto asked.

" I'm all ears..." Hibiki replied.

However, at this point, the man got tired of them talking to one another, and performed a jutsu, slamming his palm on the rocky wall. " Disperse!" Ryouta yelled out loud, and everyone leaped away as a large rock spike burst out from where they were standing. As Hiroshi leaped backwards, he felt some movement behind him, and before he knew it, he found himself slammed upon the ground, a hand to his neck.

As he was about to crush his skull with his other hand, Sora came flying out of nowhere, executing a spinning kick, hitting the man in his arm just before he struck. He merely grabbed her leg and tossed her aside, with Suzumi catching her before she slammed into the rock wall. However, as he turned his attention back to Hiroshi, Hiroshi had already flipped out two explosive tags from his weapon launcher, and they were already smoking in his hand. The man immediately leaped backwards, shocked that Hiroshi was suicidal enough to use explosive notes at such a close range, not to mention to be able to procure them so quickly even being pinned down, but Hiroshi knew better. He kept plenty of explosive notes in his weapon launcher, and some of them were fakes. He picked himself from the ground, tossing the fake pieces of paper aside. The man frowned at him, clearly displeased that he had been tricked.

" Hiroshi, are you alright?" Ryouta asked, moving up to him immediately.

" Yeah...I'm cool..." Hiroshi said, rubbing his neck.

" Are we seriously going to fight him?" Suzumi exclaimed, sounding terrified.

" What so scary about him?" Sora asked, getting up from the ground as well.

" But..."

" Suzumi!" Makoto exclaimed.

" Huh?!...Yes?" she timidly replied.

" Use it," Makoto said. The three Leaf genins wondered what he meant. Hibiki raised his eyebrows, then looked at Suzumi.

" What? But I can't..." Suzumi started to protest.

" Yes, you can. Use it, Suzumi. That's the most effective attack we have against a jounin. I'm counting on you to help us. Our lives depend on it," Makoto replied, before leaping at the enemy shinobi. " Play defensively! Guard Suzumi until she's done with her preparations!"

Hiroshi took a glance at Suzumi. She looked pretty dazed, wondering whether she could perform whatever Makoto had asked her to do. Hiroshi wanted to tell them Suzumi was in no position to do anything when she suddenly clutched her fists in resolution, and dug into her medical pack.

" Foolish kids," the man exclaimed. He had a kunai out in a jiffy and with one powerful swipe, smashed the weapon upon Makoto's head. However, the man was in for a surprise. Cracks started to appear all over where Makoto was hit, and a little blood trickled down his face, but other than that, the solid armour of sand absorbed most of the blow.

Makoto immediately grabbed the man's arm, and slowly started to meld his sand armour onto the man's hand, sticking both of them together. The man pulled his hand away in an instant, ripping out through the sand armour, but Makoto stalled him long enough for the rest of them to counter-attack. Hibiki ran up the canyon wall where his spear was embedded, and upon grabbing it, yanked it out and performed a backflip. He landed right next to the man, who missed Hibiki's attack by a fraction, jumping back in time, the blade of the spear merely nicking his vest slightly.

He made a quick jump as a pair of hands reached out to grab his legs, after seeing in a split second that Ryouta had disappeared. Ryouta emerged from the ground, cursing slightly for missing to grab his target, and fired a fireball at his target. The man threw an explosive tag, and it blew up, dispersing Ryouta's fire and throwing him backwards.

As soon as he landed, Sora and Hibiki attacked him simultaneously. Sora whipped in, throwing a punch to his face which the man caught deftly, and he managed to duck a strike from Hibiki's spear, which almost nicked Sora. " Oi, don't stand in my way, idiot!" Sora yelled.

" Same can be said to you," Hibiki replied.

" Stop fighting, you morons!" Makoto exclaimed.

The man slammed his palm painfully upon Hibiki's face, knocking him backwards as he slammed into the canyon wall behind him. He then threw Sora on the ground, and them promptly swung his hands in a powerful arc, slamming the back of his fist upon her chest. Sora cried out in pain, coughing out blood.

" Sora!" Hiroshi exclaimed, seeing his comrade being pummeled.

The man immediately ignored both Sora and Hibiki, since they were out of commission already, and then rushed towards Suzumi, who was still halfway preparing whatever she was supposed to be preparing. Ryouta and Makoto rushed in, forming a defensive barrier in-between Suzumi and their enemy.

" A ninjutsu combo!" Ryouta exclaimed.

" I'm on it!" Makoto replied.

" Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

" Wind Release: Wind Blast Technique!"

Ryouta's fire combined with Makoto's wind created an enormous firestorm when mixed together, and when Hiroshi saw the effect, it was like Ryouta had managed to create a fireball that was almost 10 times its regular size. The large ball of fire was thrown at the man, and it enveloped the entire side of the canyon from one wall to the other. Even though he was standing several meters back, he could even feel the heat whip at his face, a tribute to its insane power.

As the fire died down, both of the casters could see that they had charred most of the area black. The man was nowhere to be seen, since there was a large, obvious, gapping hole in the middle of the ground where he disappeared into.

" Shit!" both of the exclaimed at the same time, realizing that the man had hid underground and was now probably heading towards Suzumi. " Suzumi, move!" Makoto exclaimed.

There was apparently no need for that. Suzumi recoiled slightly when the ground several meters in front of her went off in an explosion. The man emerged from the blast, slightly burnt from the attack. He moved further backwards when Hiroshi fired shurikens in his direction.

" Relax, I've set up explosive traps around the area below us. He's got to be an idiot to try to catch you from below the ground," Hiroshi told Suzumi as he landed next to her. She was quite surprised that he could set up traps under such short notice. Perhaps that was why their enemy got careless.

However, there was probably no need for him to move underground. The man immediately leaped at Hiroshi and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up. Hiroshi struggled against his grip, but it was to no avail.

" Do not be foolish! I will crush him instantly if you make another step!" the man cried as he saw Ryouta and Makoto attempting to attack him when Hiroshi was caught. Hiroshi felt his vision blur slightly from the lack of oxygen. However, he suddenly smelled something sweet in the air, and he suddenly felt dust particles stick to his skin. The man turned around, only to see Suzumi blowing what seemed to be a bag of white dust particles in their direction. " What now, girl? You plan to kill me with perfume?"

" Harbinger of Control: 5 Senses!" Suzumi exclaimed, clapping her hands together to form a Tiger seal.

To Ryouta's and Hiroshi's surprise, the man suddenly released his grip on Hiroshi. He then proceeded to stand there, looking around, rather confused at what he was doing. Hiroshi rubbed his neck as he backed off, surprised that he was somehow released.

" This is Suzumi's skill for you…" Makoto said, smiling. Suzumi merely gave him a weak grin.

" Genjutsu?" Ryouta asked.

" Yes, it's primarily genjutsu, but further enhanced with the effects of poison. It's a special mix of poison in the form of dust particles that affect the person once inhaled. The poison will then mix into the blood system, and then fix itself to the nervous system controlling all of ones senses. Casting that level of genjutsu would require tons of skill, but is totally simplified and further enhanced with the poison she has made, which I like to call it 'The Dust of Death', although Suzumi names it the 'Illusion dust'. Once caught, there is absolutely no escape," Makoto explained for everyone to hear.

" Wow…" Hiroshi gasped, utterly impressed. " Hey, wait! If she was carrying such a potent poison, why not just keep it in her bag instead of making it on the spot? Wouldn't that save time?"

" Some number of poisons do not have a very long shelf life, and the 'Illusion dust' has a shelf life of three hours after it has been made. Skills in genjutsu and poisons, not to mention a rather advance knowledge in that branch due to her medical skills…Suzumi is quite the kunoichi, don't you agree?" Makoto replied, grinning.

" Makoto, stop embarrassing me!" Suzumi exclaimed, turning a shade of red.

" Aw, how cute…" Makoto replied.

" I can't hold on for long, Makoto," Suzumi replied.

" I know, I'll make it short. Make him kneel," Makoto asked.

Hiroshi watched, wide-eyed, as the man suddenly kneeled, so that his face was quite level with Makoto when he walked up calmly up to him. Makoto suddenly looked dangerous, as if he was some sort of grim reaper standing over his victim, ready to steal his soul. He picked up a handful of soil, and held it at the man's face. Hiroshi could note that he had inserted some chakra into the soil.

" Hiroshi, please check on Sora and Hibiki, and make sure they have not suffered anything serious. If so, I would make this quick so that Suzumi can tend to them," Makoto replied.

" Eh? Me?"

" Of course, next to Suzumi, you are the best in medical knowledge from what you have picked up from Sakura sensei. Just make sure they have suffered nothing serious, please," Makoto asked politely.

" Um, alright," Hiroshi said, not sure what Makoto was really up to. He went up to Sora, who had somehow managed to pick herself up, but she was still groaning in pain, blood dripping from her mouth. Hibiki didn't look too bad, since he was now standing up, although he was using his spear for support.

" Gosh, are you alright?" Hiroshi asked.

" God, are you an idiot? Do I look alright?" Sora scowled.

" I thought you were the world's toughest chick," Hiroshi said, grinning.

" Heh," Sora chuckled.

Sora was quite hurt, and from the bleeding, she probably suffered some minor internal damage. However, Hiroshi was quite confident in Sora' resilience, and figured she was quite alright. A little treatment from Suzumi would fix her up in no time.

" They are alright," Hiroshi said, after performing some simple basic checks on Sora. He wasn't really in the mood to check on Hibiki, since he still had those eyes that said 'Back off, jackass' whenever he looked at the Leaf genins, and since if he could stand, he should be fine.

" Excellent. Suzumi, allow him to use his vocal chords," Makoto said. " After I'm done speaking to him."

" Now, that wasn't really nice of you to attack us like that, moreover beating up two of my friends. I'm pretty pissed right now, and I have all the reason to be pissed. You will now tell me why you attacked us, or I'll let you die slowly. Tell me quick enough, I'll let you die quickly. I promise you that," Makoto said. The man made a grunt, which Makoto took it as a no. He raised his hand, but Ryouta immediately caught his hand.

" Makoto, there is no need to kill him," Ryouta replied sternly.

" You Leafs are too kind for your own good. Perhaps because we have been brought up in a much harsher environment, but I see no reason to keep him alive. There is a limit on how long Suzumi can hold him, and when that's over, he will be rampaging all over the place, I'm sure. We had enough trouble with the 6 of us holding him off, and now we have reduced the number by at least 1. We cannot keep an eye on him. I don't see any reason why we should keep him anyway," Makoto said.

" But…" Ryouta tried to argue.

" Also, Rock-nins are our arch enemies, and it has been so since the founding of our villages. They have taken away lives of our comrades using underhand tactics, and I see no reason to be nice to them. Personal reason, I know. Don't worry, you won't be staining your hands with his blood. I will," Makoto replied, pulling Ryouta's hand apart with his free hand, which had suddenly went limp.

Hiroshi's eyes widened in horror as Makoto held the hand with soil in front of the man's face, and using his chakra, forced the soil to enter the man's nose and mouth, slowly.

---

" I've done some quick work on your injuries. I'm not really skilled, and you should still feel a bit painful when you move, but I've fixed your internal injuries already. There should be no problem," Suzumi said, smiling warmly.

" Well, thanks," Sora replied, trying to stand up. " Having a medic-nin sure is useful. Hey, Hiroshi, since you are the support unit in your group, besides cooking and weapon supply, you shall be team 3's medic as well!"

" Oi, why don't you learn it instead?!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Bah, I only know how to punch people," Sora remarked.

" Yeah, and look where that landed you into," Ryouta chuckled.

" Hey!"

" Sora, don't overstrain yourself!" Suzumi exclaimed.

" Yeah, yeah…" Sora sighed.

Hiroshi took a glance at the dead shinobi that was lying several meters away from their position. Makoto had forced down sand and soil into his lungs, slowly suffocating him. The sight was too hard for Hiroshi to see, and he turned his head and closed his ears when it started. He found it hard to believe that Makoto could so easily kill another shinobi so easily, not to mention torturing him to death.

Mixed feelings welled up within him. Was this what shinobi had to do in the field? He knew all about killing people when the time arose, but then again, whatever he learnt in the classroom was vastly different from what he saw in real life. He hugged himself, feeling a bit cold all of a sudden. Ryouta looked pretty disturbed as well, but Sora was too hyperactive to be let down by such a thing.

" What about killing people what scares you so?" Hibiki suddenly asked him.

Hiroshi looked up all of a sudden. Hibiki had surprisingly decided to talk to him all of a sudden. Hiroshi wasn't too sure why, but then again, he could use someone to talk to, even if it was some Konoha hating Suna shinobi.

" Well…it's just…"

" First time seeing someone die?" Hibiki asked darkly.

" …Yeah…" Hiroshi answered. _It was a lie, however..._ Hiroshi just hoped Hibiki didn't see through his bluff.

" So what so bad about it? I mean, you do realize what exactly we are getting ourselves into when we took up the oath to become a shinobi, didn't you?" Hibiki asked. Hiroshi didn't answer. " Hmph, it's always like this in your first time. You'll get used to it."

Hiroshi kept quiet for a while. " Have you…"

" Yes, more than enough already…" Hibiki answered before Hiroshi could finish his sentence. " Makoto and I are more geared towards it though. Suzumi has not yet killed anyone as of now, and like you, she doesn't have much of a heart to do it."

" …Um, Hibiki?"

" What now, scardy-cat?" Hibiki scowled.

" Why have you decided to talk to me?" Hiroshi asked, this time not because he was scared about something, but more that he was quite curious.

" Tch, well, I just can't believe that I've been hating some dumb wuss. You are just a waste of my time to hate," Hibiki answered spitefully, although it was an honest remark. Hiroshi merely smiled. He could care less on what his reasons were, but if they were on talking terms, Hiroshi was quite comfortable with that.


	14. Chapter 13: Free For All

**Chapter 13: Free for All**

Shikamaru was done thinking.

" What now? You plan on catching me with your Shadow Imitation technique, with your eyes closed? You can't possibly be serious. You can't see me with your eyes close, but you can't possibly see me even with your eyes opened," the female shinobi replied in a teasing voice.

" Hakane Maya," Shikamaru said suddenly. " One of the rogue shinobi formed from the fallen village of the Sound. Age 19, but yet already ranked as an A-class criminal for your infamous activities in the Country of Fire and Water, carrying out terrorist activities and assassination attempts, most of them successful. Highly ambitious and dangerous, you are already of a jounin level, even with no prior training from any known shinobi. Perhaps you are one of the leftover experiments Orochimaru left behind, a dying breed, I should say."

None of them could see it, but Maya raised her eyebrows. " Ooh, you know a lot about me…" she cooed playfully.

" I hate troublesome women. I'll end this now," Shimakaru said. " Open your eyes. The barrier has already been broken."

And surprisingly, it had been. Maya was quite surprised to see that her barrier had been nullified all of a sudden. Sakura and Temari noticed that there were about 10 other shinobi around them, besides Maya, standing all around them, having clearly surprised looks at how Shikamaru had suddenly broken their barrier. Sakura and Temari could not see the clear sky above them. Maya glance downwards towards her feet. Right below her, where she had place a seal for the barrier, it was now pierced by what looked like a black spike.

" Ah, Shadow Sewing technique…" Maya replied, rather impressed. " You realized that for the barrier to act, all seals place along the rockface must act as one. Destroying one will be enough to break it. You determined its position because I was the last one to place it here before the barrier took effect, and all you did was remember where I stood. Using memory alone without any visual and audio help to search for the lone seal I place, you are indeed impressive. I'm impressed, Tactician of the Leaf."

" Why are you after my students?" Shikamaru demanded, sounding angry this time.

" Wouldn't you like to know?" Maya laughed.

" We have wasted too much time here. Sakura, now!" Temari exclaimed.

Sakura immediately leaped towards the rock wall they had set up, and landed her fist nicely along the wall, and this time, it broke apart, crumbling down to bits. She was further hampered by the fact that there were some rocks blocking her way, but she merely leaped over them and ran along the canyon to find the genins.

Temari whipped out her fan and swung it around, creating a powerful gust of wind. She them leaped on her fan, and like some sort of surfboard, rode upon it to the top of the canyon, using the wind she had created to lift her up quickly. It was disadvantageous for her to stay in the canyon where the enemy had higher ground. Some of the shinobi threw shurikens at her, but she merely jumped off her fan in mid-air and upon catching it with her hands, swung them again to create another powerful gust of wind. The violent storm she created knocked the shurikens and shinobi aside as she landed precariously along the canyon's edge. Shikamaru took this opportunity to get up and out of the canyon as well.

" Loser…what would you do without me? You'd still be stuck down there," Temari asked.

" Please…I'm not in the mood…" Shikamaru groaned.

" My, my, a lover's quarrel? How appropriate," Maya laughed. " Five of you, go and catch up with that medic-nin. The rest will stay here to stall them." No sooner than she had spoken, five of them ran off, leaving the rest along the area.

" Sakura can't hold all five of them at once, and I'm worried about our students," Temari replied.

" Sure is a drag, but let's finish this quickly, shall we?" Shikamaru replied.

" Well said," Maya replied. " Go!"

The five remaining shinobi leaped up high in the air, throwing wire lines all around them. Shikamaru barely caught the seals they were making, and his eyes widened when he realized what they were doing.

There was a loud wailing sound that followed after that, not before the entire place where they stood crumbled to bits as the shinobi passed sound waves through to the ground, blasting up the land in which they stood upon with sound waves.

---

" Hey, what's that?" Makoto asked all of a sudden, his sharp hearing picking up a disturbance in the air. Ryouta spun around, and he saw what it was. Apparently, Sakura was running along the canyon towards them, but she was also apparently being chased by 5 other shinobi.

" Sakura sensei is coming, but she's being chased by 5 other shinobi along the rock wall!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" We are at a disadvantage staying inside the canyon. Hiroshi and I will take the left wall. Makoto, Hibiki, you two take the right one. With any luck and some help from Sakura sensei, we might be able to beat them," Ryouta ordered.

" Hey, what about me?" Sora exclaimed.

" Suzumi, take Sora to a safe place," Makoto replied.

" Oi!"

" You are in no position to fight, Sora. I understand your need to help, but I have to consider your safety. Suzumi, sorry for troubling you," Ryouta replied as he ran up the canyon walls, followed by Makoto and Hibiki who went up the other side. Hiroshi fired a whole set of wires upwards, attaching them to the wall and he reeled himself up.

They had 3 shinobi on their side, and they were several meters away, and they caught sight of Hiroshi and Ryouta emerging out from the canyon. Hiroshi immediately fired an explosive note in their direction, tagged to a kunai. They immediately leaped apart, only to notice a second later that Hiroshi fired a fake.

Once of them moved too close to the edge, and all of a sudden, there was a tremendous crack in the air, like rocks breaking apart. The shinobi slipped, and before he could regain his footing, someone threw out a long line from below and snagged his arm. With a powerful tug, Sakura managed to pull the shinobi back down to the depths of the canyon. One down, two to go.

" I'm going in. Back me up, Hiroshi. I'm counting on it!" Ryouta yelled, sprinting forward after charging his feet with chakra.

" Wait, what!?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

Ryouta immediately ran into his two opponents. Both of them tried to strike him, but he merely twisted his body around , avoiding the hits while pushing his legs apart, slamming his feet into their heads as he threw himself in-between them. With perfect precision, he forced his body to spin around in mid-air once more, building up momentum has he landed two more blows with his feet upon their faces once more.

_Awesome…_ Hiroshi thought to himself, seeing a primary ninjutsu user execute taijutsu moves like a pro.

One of them recovered quickly enough, and whipped out a kunai. Hiroshi saw that, and fired a windmill shuriken at him. The large weapon knocked the man's hand away, diverting the attack. The second recovered a second later, and whipped his kunai at Ryouta, but this time, Ryouta countered with a short shinobi blade Hiroshi remembered which he had brought along.

His blade suddenly started to glow red, and the kunai that the shinobi had started to melt away. His enemy tossed his now useless blade aside, and leaped back to perform a jutsu. The man took a deep breath, then shot a stream of high pressured water from his mouth. However, Ryouta was quick with ninjutsu as well, and before the jet of water hit him, he slammed his palm to the ground.

" Earth Release: Earth Wall Technique!"

A short wall of earth burst out from the ground, and absorbed the water in which slammed into it, rendering the attack useless. Ryouta burst through the wall when he was done, his blade glowing dangerously red. The enemy shinobi braced himself for the attack, but he felt himself being peppered with attacks from behind.

Hiroshi unleashed a whole volley of kunais at him which hit him pretty hard on the back. Seeing he was stunned, Hiroshi took the opportunity to attack simultaneously with his teammate. " Wind Release: Wind Bullet!" he exclaimed to himself, expelling a powerful jet of air. The shinobi was stunned when the jutsu slammed hard on his head, knocking him dizzy. Taking this opportunity, Ryouta dashed forward, stabbing the man swiftly in his gut. The heated blade cut through his flesh easily, burning up the wound in an instant. The heat transferred from the blade into his body was enough to cause severe damaged to the internal organs, and the man collapsed in pain.

" You did it!" Hiroshi yelled.

" Hiroshi, watch out!" Ryouta suddenly yelled in alarm.

Hiroshi did not managed to react in time. He felt a stabbing pain that pierced through him from behind, and he found himself looking at the end of a blade sticking out from his gut. He wasn't sure whether he was in too much shock or too much pain to say a word. All he knew was that he was bleeding quite badly right now, and he felt his body grow cold all of a sudden.

The remaining enemy pulled out the blade, and Hiroshi slumped forward, his body in pain and his vision hazy. The man raised his hands to deal the finishing blow, his eyes glinting angrily at him. Ryouta dashed immediately towards him, but Hiroshi was quite certain he wouldn't make it in time. The blade came down and he felt blood splatter all over his face.

---

" I must admit, you run like rats," Maya laughed.

Shikamaru and Temari stood by the side, gasping. They barely made it out of the circle of the attack, leaping back just in time with some effort. The five shinobi landed next in front of them, while Maya watched the scenes from afar.

" That was a bit too close," Temari said.

" I'm tired of this already. Let's end this now," Shikamaru said. Temari saw him use the same similar seals he used all the time in his fights. " Shadow Imitation Technique!" he said, preparing his shadow to attack. " Let's catch these rats."

" Sounds like fun!" Temari said, whipping out her fan to it's full size. " Cutting Whirlwind technique!"

All the five shinobis leaped back to avoid the blow as the wind ripped through the air, its dangerous currents threatening to cut anyone in its path. Temari was not to be put back, and leaped forward to attack. One of them managed to throw an explosive tag at her. Shikamaru stretched his shadow in time, using his Shadow Sewing technique to force his shadow up and catching the explosive tag, tossing it aside. Temari whipped another Cutting Whirlwind Technique as the explosive note went off beside her, but not close enough to deal damage to her.

Some of the shinobi's backed off even more, but she was quick enough to notice two of them were missing. She leaped up immediately as one attempted to drag her underground as a pair of hands emerged form the floor. Another figure broke out of the surface of the ground, shurikens ready in his hands. He threw them at Temari, who was stuck in mid-air.

Shikamaru threw two of his knives at him, knocking the shurikens in mid-air, knocking the weapons aside. He felt someone grab his feet, and pulled him underground. Shikamaru gave a yelp as his body sank into the ground. The three other shinobi emerged, kunais flashing in their hands. They knew perfectly well that Temari would not dare attack them without harming Shikamaru. One of them stabbed his hand forward, only to find himself stopping just before he hit Shikamaru in the eye.

" Shadow Imitation Technique, success…" Shikamaru replied, smiling slightly, which was rather hilarious as there were five shinobi all around him with their kunais drawn while he had his head stuck above the ground all around them.

" Imposible…your shadow isn't around, moreover, we have buried you," one of the gasped.

" There is more than one way of using my shadows besides my own body. Care to take a look?" Shikamaru asked, twisting his head slightly, forcing the man to shift his head. He spotted Shikamaru's knives, which he had thrown to knock the shurikens away, having its shadow lengthened, holding all three of them.

" Using blades?" one of them asked incredulously.

" It's a form of chakra after all, a special one only people of my clan can use," Shikamaru said. " Temari, I'll leave the rest of them to you," he told her, before dropping his head below the ground, sinking into the ground below.

" With pleasure," she said, biting her finger. After running her finger along her fan, she swung it again. However, this time, along with the usual violent gusts of wind, all five shinobi saw a weasel with a patch across its eye, carrying a lantern and a sickle as large as it was, fly towards their direction.

---

" Man, these guys are like pests!" Hibiki groaned, leaping backwards as he deflected a number of shurikens thrown in his direction with his spear, spinning it all around to create a sort of shield in front of him. Makoto was busy deflecting shurikens as well, his kunai flashing all over the place.

" Well then, time to use our trump cards, shall we?" Makoto asked, his hands in a flurry of seals. " Wind Release: Sand Dust Distruption Techinique!" Makoto exclaimed, as he exhaled powerfully. However, instead of powerful wind blasts, Makoto blew out a lot of sand from his breath, surrounding the place in a sort of a thick cloud of dust and sand. Their enemies looked around, seeing that they vision has been blurred. Not to mention, the sand started to irritate their eyes.

" Get out!" one of them exclaimed, and the second complied. However, as one of them emerged from the 'smokescreen', he suddenly laid eyes on Makoto, who leaped at him, his right hand pulled back. He barely caught an image of something vaguely invisible being held in his hand.

" The Wind Blade of the Sand is the sharpest sword of them all," Makoto exclaimed, before tapping the man's head with two fingers.

---

" Suzumi!?" Hiroshi could hear Ryouta's surprised voice. Turning around, he saw that Suzumi now stood in-between him and their enemy, blocking the strike by allowing her hand to take the blow. The blood that was now dripping down on his face came from Suzumi's hand, which was painfully holding back the enemy's attack. She winced, her hand shaking from trying to hold the man back.

Ryouta didn't waste one second, and threw several shurikens at the man, who managed to dodge under the strikes. Ryouta jumped at him, his short sword swinging wildly at the man. Suzumi spat a few needles at him, and he backed off immediately, quite wary that the needles might contain poison. Ryouta skidded next to Hiroshi, who was gravely injured on the sandy floor.

" Hiroshi!" Ryouta exclaimed, slightly alarmed, kneeling down to check on his friend, while keeping a close eye on the enemy. Hiroshi merely coughed out more blood. " Hiroshi!"

" Damn, that hurt..." was all Hiroshi could afford to say.

" Don't you die on me, Hiroshi, stay with me!" Ryouta yelled.

" ...Hey, I don't plan on dying..." Hiroshi gasped.

" Suzumi, take care of Hiroshi for a minute. I'm going to deal with this bastard here..." Ryouta growled, standing up and looking at the enemy spitefully, narrowing his eyes dangerously. Suzumi, who was sobbing slightly, merely nodded. She knelt down right next to Hiroshi and did her best to heal him, pressing her palms against his wound and attempting to seal it up.

" Hmph, you have nice eyes, kid," the man taunted.

" You know, Makoto was right. There was no need to let these idiots live," Ryouta replied.

" What do you know? Speaking like you know..."

Ryouta didn't allow him to finish his sentence. Suzumi and Hiroshi saw him quickly flip three seals in succession and then concentrated chakra to his palm. There was a sudden rush of intense power around the area, and a loud roaring sound could be heard. Suzumi watched in surprise as there was suddenly a collection of flames upon his right hand. Suzumi had never seen a collection of fire in such an extent. In fact, the fire was so intense, she could clearly see it burning his hand.

" Ryouta!" she exclaimed, feeling afraid at what he was about to attempt.

" What the...?" the shinobi gasped, seeing such extent of power in a genin.

" I'll teach you to mess with us!" Ryouta yelled, quite beside himself right now. In an instant, flames started to swirl all around him, and he dashed at the man at an incredible speed, matching Sora's at any rate. The shinobi had no time to react, and could only raise his hands to defend against the attack. This was a bad move. The technique Ryouta used was supposed to be dodged, not blocked.

The instant Ryouta hit him, an enormous explosion rang throughout the area, as if he suddenly blew up. The blast threw Suzumi backwards, and she exclaimed in surprise of the extent of his jutsu. The blast was so powerful, she felt as if ten explosive tags had gone off at once.

" Ryouta!" she exclaimed, seeing him disappear into the blast radius.

---

Temari and Shikamaru stood over all the five dead shinobi, with Shikamaru just emerging from the ground. " Man, I'm being surrounded by morons," Maya sighed, jumping off the branch she was sitting on and walking calmly towards them. " I guess I'll have to play with the both of you."

" Quite daring. You do know that you are facing two jounins at once, don't you?" Shikamaru asked sarcastically. " Not the least worried?"

" Not really. Both of you have already spent some of your reserves, and I haven't done anything as of yet today. Not to mention I don't plan on fighting he both of you here. Delaying you two should be sufficient," Maya laughed, running her hand through her head. She then raised both her hands in a sort of martial stance, looking like some sort of twisted praying mantis, as she licked her lips.

" Why do I always have to fight crazy, psychotic, troublesome women?" Shikamaru sighed.

" Were you referring to me as well?" Temari chided.

" Temari, go and assist Sakura in helping the kids. I'll deal with Maya," Shikamaru said, clapsing his hands together, ready for another round.

" Who said I'm letting you go anywhere, eh?" Maya scowled. However, all of a sudden, there was a loud explosion somewhere, and the entire area vibrated slightly as the blast erupted somewhere down the canyon. All three of them could see smoke rising in the horizon, although they were not too sure who exactly made that explosion. Shikamaru gave a quick look at Maya. From her expression, it looked like none of her subordinates pulled that off, which meant that probably someone on their side did. From Temari's expression, he could only figure that Ryouta had pulled off that stunt, since the blast was chakra based, and did not come from a large amount of explosive tags.

" ...I must say, I have come across an interesting find..." Maya mused.

" What?" Temari snapped.

" Hmm, very interesting indeed. Well then, I guess I shall adjourn this party for to another much more suitable time," May replied. Before they could react, she clasped her hands together and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Shikamaru and Temari could feel her leaving towards the west, but they didn't bother about her at the moment. They immediately took off after where their students had headed towards.

---

" What's that?" Hibiki asked, temporarily surprised. Right opposite them, a huge blast erupted around the area, and they could see a large body of fire build up right across the canyon. They were not quite sure who did it, or what it was, but the power was tremendous, and it expended at a ferocious rate. It took a while for the blast to die down, and when it did, both Makoto and Hibiki saw that one whole chunk of the opposite side of the canyon face had been blown apart.

" I don't know..." Makoto replied, gapping at the sight. He could not see it, but he could definitely hear and sense it, not to mention smell it, from all the thick smoke that was blowing their way.

" Explosive tags?"

" No, I could feel a collection of chakra. This was some jutsu..." Makoto replied.

" But...who the heck did it!?" Hibiki asked.

Makoto kept quiet, unsure what to say. It was then when he heard a twig snap somewhere. Both of them spun around, only to see the last shinobi right behind them, a kunai in his hand. " It's foolish to look away when your enemy is still around!" he screamed.

A figure flew towards him, and in one swift move, slammed a foot into his face. The shinobi was tossed aside like some rag doll, slamming upon the rocky ground, loosing consciousness when his head hit the hard surface.

" You are damn right!" Sora exclaimed, dropping to the ground after executing a spinning kick at his head as she flexed her muscles. " Damn, you guys suck!"


	15. Chapter 14: Rise of the Fire

**Chapter 14: Rise of the Fire**

Hiroshi opened his eyes slightly, and the first thing that greeted him was an up-close face of Sora looking down at him, squinting and looking with one eye only. Hiroshi just wasn't too sure what to say upon seeing such a sight.

" Looks like he'll live," Sora mused.

Hiroshi picked himself up, and took a look around. Everyone had gathered on that spot where he lay. His attire was soaked with his own blood, but surprisingly, he now felt quite fine. There was still this throbbing, dull ache at the point where he was stabbed, but nothing more serious than that. He tried moving his body. He felt weak, but nonetheless, he was very much alive.

He took a good look at everyone. Sora was by his side, as was Suzumi, who looked like she had been crying a bit. Makoto and Hibiki were leaning on a nearby rock. Shikamaru and Temari sat on the ground, side-by-side, a look of relief creeping up on his sensei's face when he saw that he was awake. Sakura, however, was at his right, treating Ryouta, who seemed to have suffered some severe damage to his right hand. It looked like his entire right arm had been badly burned.

" Hey, what the heck happened?" Hiroshi exclaimed, seeing Ryouta's condition. Hiroshi only remembering something exploded somewhere just before he passed out from the lack of blood. Ryouta merely looked up at him and smiled back.

" Hey, you are up…I'm glad. Oh, well…this isn't something to worry about…just a slight injury," Ryouta answered.

" This isn't a slight injury, kid. This is a serious injury. Any slight change in the direction in which you released the blast would have caused your arm to come off," Sakura chided.

_Blast? Come off? What the heck happened when I was out?_ Hiroshi thought, wondering what actually happened.

" Hey, Ryouta, I hate to say this, but even though that jutsu you used probably saved your lives, that was a way too powerful jutsu to use for a genin. I'm surprised that you were even able to pull such a stunt. Where did you learn such a dangerous jutsu?" Shikamaru asked. His voice didn't contain any anger or resentment, just concern.

" I…" Ryouta replied, his eyes shiftily looking around. " …copied the technique from someone…"

" Who?" Sora asked.

" Hatake Kakashi," Shikamaru answered.

" Who?" Makoto asked, not sure who this person was.

" Don't you know? He's the famous Konoha shinobi who has the Sharingan in his left eye, also known as Copy-Ninja Kakashi," Suzumi replied. The Leaf genins merely nodded. Shikamaru almost chuckled at the word 'Sharingan'. It was a special bloodline eye from the now defunct Uchiha clan which had not seen in a long time, yet had been mentioned twice today.

" Copy-Ninja?" Hibiki asked, raising his eyebrows.

" He is known to have copied 1500 jutsus of all types from various ninjas he has fought, just by looking at them," Suzumi answered cheerfully. Hiroshi found it surprising that Suzumi seem to know a lot about their village and their people.

" Hey, is that even possible?" Hibiki asked. " How can that even be possible?"

" As fantastic and out-of-this world as it may sound, it is true. Hatake Kakashi owns the 'Sharingan', a special eye that allows one to see others people's movements in advance, not to mention foreshadowing their jutsus, and copying them just as you perform them. The 'Sharingan' is the terror of all ninjutsu and genjutsu users, as they can barely hide against its power. Even using taijutsu, it only minimizes the effect, and it is even said that a Sharingan user can even copy ones taijutsu techniques," Sakura answered.

" Sounds like some kind of God," Makoto replied.

" Perhaps he is," Sakura said, smiling.

" You know him?" Hiroshi asked.

" Of course I do. He's my sensei," Sakura replied.

" I thought your sensei was Tsunade-sama?" Sora asked, perplexed.

" Oh, I trained under her to learn medical jutsu, but Kakashi was my original sensei and commander in the field on a lot of my missions," Sakura explained.

" So…what exactly did Ryouta copy from him?" Hiroshi asked.

" Chidori," Sakura answered.

" A Thousand Birds? Never heard of that skill," Sora replied.

" No, you probably won't. But perhaps you've heard of its variant name: Raikiri," Sakura answered. Suzumi's eyes seem to enlarge when Sakura mentioned 'Raikiri'.

" No way!" Makoto exclaimed, sounding excited. Hiroshi wasn't too sure what was going on.

" Hatake Kakashi was a jutsu technician, and one of the first jutsus he has ever created was Chidori. It was a ninjutsu where you call forth your chakra in the form of elemental power using just basic seals, and then compress them to a concentrated degree into one's palm, to such a higher form that it is said that even the chakra in your hand becomes visible. Hatake Kakashi's elemental affinity was lightning, and thus, he could create lightning in his hand."

" This was no mere lightning. This was a jutsu that allowed the user to pierce anything…well, almost anything. It got the nickname Raikiri (Lightning Edge) because he once cut through a lightning bolt. One of his best assassinating jutsus, and which, due to the speed he needs to execute this attack, can only be used by one who has the Sharingan," Sakura explained.

" However, the basics still can apply to other elements as well. Ryouta merely used the seals to use his fire ability, and them all he did was concentrate it upon his right palm. However, you need to understand that different elements have different properties. Lightning can be concentrated to an insane degree until it becomes a sort of like energy blade. Fire, however, is more volatile and explosive, and it won't achieve the effect Chidori does. Using that altered jutsu could have killed you. Promise me you will not attempt something silly as that again," Shikamaru finished.

" Yes…I won't," Ryouta apologized.

" Well, all in all, I'm actually glad nothing really serious happened to all of you. Being able to keep my students alive for only one month, that sure would have sucked on my resume," Shikamaru laughed.

" Damn, those guys were of no trouble at all!" Sora exclaimed.

" Really? It was you whom I was most worried about," Shikamaru chuckled. The rest of them laughed while she fumed for a while. " Anyway, I guess we will have to cut this mission short. With dangerous shinobi lurking around and with so many injuries, I think it is best if we headed back. I guess Sakura will have to be content with whatever we could find in one day."

-

The trip back was of course much slower than normal, since Hiroshi had just been fixed up by Sakura, and the rest of them tired after a fight. Hiroshi was quite surprised at the level of skill Sakura performed in healing him. Not only were his injuries now gone, but he felt much more rejuvenated. Indeed, her medical abilities were top notch, comparable to the Fifth.

" Oh, don't just thank me," Sakura said when Hiroshi approached her " Say thank you to Suzumi as well. She helped maintain your damaged systems before I arrived, if not, you would have been in much serious danger." Hiroshi turned around to look at Suzumi, who immediately decided that the ground was much more interesting than his face, and started blushing.

They made a lot of stops, not wanted to stress Hiroshi out too much, and since Sora was the only genin not to collect any herbs or plants during their trip, was punished to set up their tents and cook their meals. Suzumi and Hiroshi had collected enough, 123 and 145 respectively, so they were allowed to sit down and boss the other guys around, although Hiroshi was careful not to pick Hibiki to do anything at all. He still was afraid of him still harbouring some thoughts about him, and even though he was on speaking terms, doesn't mean he didn't like him.

It took them two days to get back, and when they did, most of them were dead tired. The genins gave a cheer when they all spotted, besides Makoto, the walls of the Sand village, and hurried along to the village, happy to get some rest after a long, arduous trip.

---

" Well, this is serious…" Kankarou said. He had his hands folded and was now leaning against the wall in the Kazekage's office. Shikamaru and Temari stood side-by-side, watching Gaara carefully after they had given them the report on what happened, with Sakura filling in any gaps.

" Perhaps the initial attack was to target the genins in the first place. They did chase after Temari's students when they were ambushed several days ago. It's most likely the same group," Shino replied.

" Yes, but why were they after the genins?" Temari asked.

" I'm not sure…Kiba, how was the search?" Shikamaru asked.

" Didn't get anything. We went through the area Temari and her students took, but neither Akamaru nor I could trace anything at all. Either it had been wiped clean, or I might have missed something. Either way, two attacks within one week is just too much of a coincidence. Should we carry out an investigation?" Kiba asked.

" No, there is no need. I'll deal with it later. For the meantime, let's keep most of the missions the genin take close-by and under supervision to make sure nothing serious happens until we can find out what they are up to," Gaara answered. The rest of them nodded and started to leave the place.

" Guess since Kiba and Shino are back, I'll take my leave. I'll file a report and pack my stuff before I go," Sakura said.

" Alright, I'll be waiting for it," Kankarou answered, going down the staircase. Kiba, Shino and Sakura left, walking along the left wing of the corridor, waving to Shikamaru and Temari as they left, leaving the two of them alone.

" Worried about something?" Temari asked, knowing the expression on Shikamaru's face.

" Yeah," he said, biting his thumb.

" Don't worry, we'll deal with Maya and whatever she was up to. Gaara will see to it," Temari answered.

" That wasn't what I was worrying about," Shikamaru answered.

" Then, what is it about?"

" Ryouta."

" What about him?"

" His ability and skill…it all strikes me as odd," Shikamaru said. " He may be a mere genin, but his ability seems too far advance for his level. They way he could push his fire powers to such a level is a bit scary. Not to mention he has quite a lot of knowledge in using all the elements. He now knows how to use four of them, and I'm sure it will be a matter of time before he starts using water jutsus. No normal genin can do this."

" Well, he might be a genius then," Temari answered.

" Perhaps he is…" Shikamaru said.

" Who were his parents?"

" We don't know. According to the medical reports, he was found by a scout team, having being abandoned in a neighbouring village of the Rain. We have no idea whether he was even from the Rain village or not, but they took him in. All the medical reports stated that he was normal, and his affinity, as far as I know, is towards fire. Nothing out of the ordinary," Shikamaru replied.

" Then why do you sound like some worried parent?" Temari asked.

" Because I think this is far from over," Shikamaru replied. " And perhaps, just perhaps, Ryouta has something to do with all of this…I just like to hope I'm wrong, no matter how bad that makes me sound."

---

" Temari sensei said your injuries aren't that serious, so there is no real need to stay in the hospital. We'll have medics check on you once in a while, but other than that, you'll be staying in my house. After all, I'm sure it will be much more comfortable to stay here. Besides, you two can be my guinea pigs in my medical training," Suzumi said, smiling at Ryouta and Hiroshi.

" Man, don't you just love girls like her…guinea pigs…" Hiroshi chuckled.

" I'll get you all something to eat. Stay put," Suzumi said, closing the door to their room. There was some silence in the air as Suzumi left. Hiroshi didn't like the tension, so he decided to break it.

" Sorry I got you into trouble…" Hiroshi apologized.

" What? What for?" Ryouta exclaimed, sounding surprised.

" Well, it's probably because of me that you pulled that jutsu..." Hiroshi mused.

" And what difference does it make whether I pull that jutsu or not?" Ryouta sighed.

" Um, getting into trouble, and not..." Hiroshi answered.

" Look, I was probably going to get into trouble by using that crazy jutsu anyway, so what difference does it make whether I perform it now or later?" Ryouta asked.

" I wouldn't know...you won't be stuck here with me, perhaps..." Hiroshi suggested.

" Getting beaten up once in a while is pretty refreshing," Ryouta answered, whistling.

" Nevermind...I forgot who I was talking to here..." Hiroshi answered. " Thanks for doing it for my sake anyway."

" Whoever said I did it for you anyway?" Ryouta asked.

" Eh?" Hiroshi exclaimed, before Ryouta burst out laughing.

" Sounds like they are fine," Suzumi commented as she walked along the corridor, passing Makoto who was leaning by the doorway. She headed quickly to the kitchen to prepare something healthy for Ryouta and Hiroshi to eat. Makoto merely followed her inside, watching her as she opened up closets and cupboards to look for the suitable ingredients.

" Well, they should be..." Makoto replied, chuckling. " Why are you here anyway, Hibiki? Checking on our teammates?"

" Why should I even be bothered?" Hibiki groaned. Suzumi turned around to look at the spear-user, who had perched himself by the open window of the kitchen, having arrived before she did. _Why didn't I notice him earlier?_ Suzmi thought, taking up a washing bowl. _I'm worse than a blind guy._

" Well, why did you come anyway?" Makoto chided.

" I came to check on you people, what else?" Hibiki replied.

" We are pretty much fine. It's them we need to worry about," Makoto answered.

" Well then, I have nothing to worry about too much. Too bad I wasted my time coming here," Hibiki replied, sighing loudly. He hopped off the window ledge he was seating upon, and started to walk away.

" Hey, what's this? I figured you'd started to give a shit about us after I saved your arse," Sora replied. Hibiki looked up to see Sora standing in the outside compound. She had been covered in several bandages, but Sakura had fixed her up pretty well, so there was no problem with her moving about since she had suffered nothing serious Sakura, along with a lot of rest, couldn't fix. However, she did ask them to not agitate her, since if she exerted herself too much, her injuries might worsen. Makoto and Suzumi looked at the two of them, wondering if they could keep Sora calm enough.

Hibiki merely looked up at her, then with a non-chalant air about him, started to walk by her. He was stopped when Sora raised her hand to block his path.

" You know, I'm still waiting for my thank you," Sora replied, raising her eyebrows. Hibiki looked at her for a while, then started to walk around her. She made some quick movements, but Hibiki quickly made a quick side-step, and before she knew it, he was several feet away from her, walking off.

" My thanks will be that I won't beat your ass this time, since you are not in a good position to get beaten. Heal up quickly, we have a match to settle. I dislike to be kept waiting," Hibiki said. " Now, if you excuse me, I need to train up to meet your expectations." With that, he leaped away, jumping up along the stone wall that surrounded Suzumi's large house and leaped away.

" Well, at least he didn't pick a fight with her this time," Makoto replied, smiling, as the both of them watched Sora fuming at Hibiki leaving her there.

-

" Hey, what are you eating?!"

" Eh, Suzumi?" Hiroshi said, taking out the lollipop in his mouth, and taking a look at it, then passing it to her, as if in offering. " It's a lollipop, one where they coat a sweet on a stick, and you suck on it. It's real nice. Want to try it?"

Suzumi walked over and dropped the tray of food she was carrying hard on his forehead, with expert precision so that none of the soup that was being carried in the bowls spilt." I know darn well what it is. What am I? Stupid? You just got seriously wounded. I don't think it's a good idea to pump your body with sugar."

" Aw...I meant that sarcastically..." Hiroshi said, rubbing his head.

" Hmm, what is this?" Ryouta asked, seeing Suzumi placing two bowls down where they sat.

" Chicken soup. It's good for you, and I've added the necessary herbs and ingredients to help you recover. I learned it from one of the recipes I picked up from the medical books," Suzumi said, smiling at him.

" God, it tastes horrible," Hiroshi said, taking one sip and sticking out his tongue. His head met the tray once more.

" It's supposed to be healthy, and healthy things aren't supposed to taste good," Suzumi replied.

" Hey, I can cook healthy stuff that tastes great!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Oh, so now you will admit you are our team's chef," Sora chided, standing by the doorway.

" Wow, I knew I didn't have to worry about you getting hurt. If you are strong enough to make sarcastic remarks, that means you are fine," Hiroshi replied. Sora merely cracked her fingers and gave him the look that said 'Don't tempt me!' at him. " If she can beat me within the next three seconds, then I've been worrying too much then..."

-

Hours had passed since then, and nightfall had fallen over the village. As usual, the temperature dropped to a very chilling level, close to freezing point in fact. Nobody visible was out in the streets, since no one in their right mind would want to stay out in the cold weather. Indeed, the temperature and conditions of the desert were harsh. But, they were not harsh enough for two young boys.

" Geez, it's freezing here!" Hiroshi said. In addition to his usual attire, he had taken the initiative to cover himself in two more layers of clothing, he also wore a thick sweater and long pants, along with socks, which he rarely wore but found that there was a need for it now. He even took a thick woolen cloak he had seen people around the village wear. Yet, the coldness of the air was still chilling him to the bone. He shivered as he watched his breath condense in front of him.

" Sure is...are you alright?" Ryouta asked.

" Yeah...no problem," Hiroshi said, although it was obvious he was displeased with the temperature.

" You should get more rest, you know. You suffered the worse injuries among all of us," Ryouta advised.

" And miss this? No way!" Hiroshi said.

Ryouta merely smirked. Both of them were seated along the roof of the house, watching the crescent moon high in the sky. It was almost midnight now, and it was almost time. Ryouta looked excited somehow, but Hiroshi still could not see what was interesting waiting for this specific time in the middle of the night, but then he liked the company, so he decided to just sit this through.

" May I have a second of your time?" a voice called out.

Both of them looked down, and saw Hibiki standing in the porch, looking up at them. His eyes looked sternly at them, as if he were appraising them somehow. Both of them noticed that he wasn't carrying his spear on his back, like he always did. The wind blew suddenly, sending chills to all of them.

" Huh? You want to talk to us?" Hiroshi asked.

" No, I want a word with you, Hiroshi, privately. I have something serious to discuss with you. How about a walk in the quiet streets of the village? It might take some time, if you are interested, or if you are even capable of it," Hibiki replied. Hiroshi looked curiously at Ryouta, who wasn't sure what to say. Hibiki didn't sound hostile, and from the tone of his voice, he sounded like he was serious in wanting to discuss something, although Hiroshi could not figure out what.

" Alright, I'm up for a walk," Hiroshi said, jumping off the roof carefully. He landed in front of Hibiki, who started to walk off. Hiroshi looked back at Ryouta, and he gave him a worried look. " Don't worry...he isn't here to pick a fight with us. Continue without me, don't wait up." With that, Hiroshi joined Hibiki in the streets of the village. Ryouta watched them disappear into the darkness, unsure what to make of it.

" Eh? I thought Hiroshi was with you? Where did he go?" Sora's voice piped up from behind Ryouta.

_Writer's note: I apologise for updating this story slightly later than my intended schedule, because I had been busy with things._


	16. Chapter 15: The Student and The Master

**Chapter 15: The Student and the Master**

Hiroshi didn't say a word as he followed Hibiki from behind. They had been walking for half an hour in the blistering cold, and Hiroshi wasn't exactly all that well, since he just recovered from his last missions injuries. He wanted very badly to ask where exactly Hibiki was taking him, before noticing that he went round one of the shop-houses earlier. Hibiki was taking himself around the village, circling around the same place. Either this was a very lousy joke, or Hibiki just wanted some time to figure out what to say.

" I heard that you were interested in learning puppetry, one of our proud and finest techniques that has been passed down from generation to generation in our village. Pray, tell me honestly, how interested are you in this particular field?" Hibiki asked just as Hiroshi almost lost his patience and was about to ask him where exactly were they going, not minding pissing of Hibiki in the process. Hiroshi wondered whether Hibiki took the half an hour to get the nerve to ask him the question.

Hiroshi felt rather torn apart. He was quite interested in the puppetry arts, but then again, he felt that Hibiki had called him out all the way here, torturing him with the cold for so long before asking him the question. Hiroshi was now just too cold to say no since it was a waste of his time.

" Yes, I am..." Hiroshi said, his voice quivering slightly in the cold.

" Are you truly serious? We may have no qualms about you learning the arts of our village, but we take pride in our knowledge and skills, and if you are merely half-hearted in this attempt, then there is no bother trying to teach you in the first place," Hibiki replied coldly. _Is this conversation going where I think it is going?_ Hiroshi thought._ And when you say we, do you also include yourself?_

" I am serious. It is an intriguing skill, and if possible, I'd like to learn it, since I haven't really geared into any specific field of combat. It's just, well...I just don't have anyone to teach me, and I don't know what the people of the village might think about it," Hiroshi admitted.

" That is of no real consequence," Hibiki said. " We are here."

Hiroshi looked up at the tall building that they were now standing in front of. It was an old, or it looked old, since it was hard to tell when the colour of all the buildings look roughly the same, building that stood two storey's high. There were no lights on, and the inside was covered in total darkness. Somehow, the building gave him a feeling that it had lost something of importance, like it had been abandoned for years, left to rot, untouched by people for some time. However, as Hiroshi was about to step in the place, he noticed a large sign outside the front door, which said: House of the Gendou Family.

" What so surprising? This is my home," Hibiki replied darkly as he entered his home.

-

The inside of the house felt surprisingly...dead. It wasn't really too different from Suzumi's house. However, none of the lights were on, and Hiroshi found it hard to see anything further than 1 foot in front of him, and he had to shuffle blindly in the darkness. There was an odd smell in the house, like it had never been cleaned before, or lived in._Does Hibiki really live here by himself?_ Hiroshi thought. He was suddenly reminded of what Suzumi had told him before, about losing his parents. Apparently, he didn't have any other relatives, or so Hiroshi felt.

" Um...do you live here by yourself?" Hiroshi ventured asking.

" Yes, as Suzumi had told you, my parents died in the last war with the Leafs, and I have been orphaned since then, and having no other family members, I lived by myself, staying in this house which I inherited due to my family name. I've lived alone here for a long time," Hibiki answered with some spite and anger in his voice.

Hiroshi somehow did a double take. _He knows about my discussion with Suzumi,_Hiroshi thought _Sand-nins are scary. We have one who was supposedly blind who can still see colours somehow and another who's hearing and stealth is about as sneaky as a Jounin._

" Humph, thinking like I wouldn't know, that Suzumi," Hibiki sniggered, but this time Hiroshi caught a change in his voice. There was no sarcasm, no anger, and no resentment, in fact, nothing negative at all. He sounded like he was amused somehow, and Hiroshi was quite sure, although he couldn't see it due to the lack of light, that he was smiling somehow. The very thought of Suzumi was enough to make him smile. However, this light-hearted moment lasted only a second, and he reverted back to his old self when he said " Come on, upstairs..." in his usual dark, sarcastic manner of speech. Hiroshi felt he was being oppressed by some dark aura that surrounded him, and he felt squeamish.

Hiroshi walked up the sand staircase up along with Hibiki, keeping close as he didn't want to get lost in a very dark and ominous house, especially when there is no light around, for whatever the reason. The air felt slightly dusty, and by just walking, Hiroshi could feel there was a layer of dust on the floor. Hiroshi felt that Hibiki somehow never walked to the upper floors of his home before, and he wondered why.

Hibiki walked up and walked along a long hallway, reaching the end several meters away. He pushed opened the door and entered. Hiroshi winced as his eyes had to adjust to the sudden appearance of light in the room, and it strained his eyes after they had started to get used to the darkness. However, a sight greeted him, and it made his jaw drop.

He was in what could be described as a very large storeroom. There was what looked like long steel poles where one would place hangars, but instead of hangars, puppets adorned the room, all dark brown from the wooden material they were made off. Hiroshi did a quick count, and there were about a hundred of them, although more than half of them were not in perfect shape: an arm missing, half the body being sawed off. However, there was a multitude of puppets, whether they were humanoid in shape or not.

Weapons and scrolls lines the walls. Hiroshi had not seen such a large variety of weapons. They ranged from the usual shuriken and kunais, to the slightly more uncommon weapons, like the windmill shurikens which came in all shapes and sizes, to the really bizarre, like some oval metal weapon that looked like some sort of a shell and a spiked saw. The ground was littered with scrolls, and Hiroshi noted that they were weapons scrolls, used to store weapons in them, just like the one he used in his weapon launcher.

" This is the storage area for my family's puppets," Hibiki said in matter-of-factly, sitting on top of a pile of puppet ligaments.

Hiroshi remembered one of the other two sand genins mentioned Hibiki was the most skilled in using puppet jutsus among the three of them. Not only that, from what he has seen, Hibiki came from a line of puppeteers. It puzzled him that with such heritage, he didn't take up puppetry.

" Why don't you use puppets in a fight? You seem to come from..." Hiroshi started, but stopped immediately when Hibiki gave him a very dark glare, as if daring him to say another word to the question he was about to ask. Hiroshi, being smart enough, stopped in mid-sentence.

There was an awkward silence between them, and Hibiki seem to stare into space for a while, but Hiroshi felt that he was trying to think of something to say. He spoke again after 5 minutes.

" I...just wanted to defy my destiny..." Hibiki answered, sounding sad all of a sudden. _Oh God, does it take you so much time to answer honestly?!_ Hiroshi thought despairingly, disliking the fact that Hibiki had to take so long to answer honest questions.

" True, I was born to a family of puppeteers, and my family had been puppeteers for generations, long before the village was founded. Of course, it was only acceptable that their son was to learn their trade, and become a fine puppeteer himself, to honour his family's name," Hibiki replied. Hiroshi could sense a tinge of irony in his voice.

" But what really galled me was that I had no choice in the matter. I came from a family of puppeteers, so everyone assumes I should be a puppeteer. Nobody even considered that I might choose something else, or I even wanted to learn something else. Even people outside my family expected such things from me. Why couldn't I have the choice and leave it at that? It's not that puppetry is such a bad art. Honestly, I believe it's a time-honoured trade, and I would be for all keeping my family trade, if they didn't force it on me."

" No matter how brilliant I was, I never liked it. Deciding to just piss my parents off one day, I went up to my academy's armoury, took out the closest weapon I saw, and told them right in the face that I would be using this piece of junk as my main weapon in a fight from then on," Hibiki said, suddenly grinning all of a sudden.

Hiroshi wasn't too sure whether to be amazed at the fact that Hibiki was damned bold to act as such, or that his current usage of his spear depended on it lying in some random area it was placed in the armoury.

" Too bad they died later that day. Never got to say how sorry I was, shouting at them," Hibiki continued. Hiroshi didn't know Hibiki that well to insert a witty comment or some words of condolences, and from his past experience, anything he projected or said towards him would be just be returned with a dark, menacing glare, minimally. So, he kept quiet, finding it surprising that Hibiki would want to be this honest with him.

Certainly, it was refreshing, and it felt like Hibiki was warming up to them now, or at least, to him. However, he couldn't imagine why though. He had been pretty hostile the last few days, and even though Hiroshi had nothing against him being 'nice' all of a sudden, he was interested in why was there a change in heart.

" What about your parents?" Hibiki asked all of a sudden, reverting back to his usual tone.

" Eh?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Your parents..." Hibiki repeated.

" Do you have some kind of a dual personality?" Hiroshi asked, attempting to be funny. Apparently, Hibiki wasn't really amused, from the dark, glare he have him, which Hiroshi had seen to many times and was now starting to grow tired of it already.

" You are avoiding the question..." he replied. It looked like he wanted an answer somehow.

" My parents are not shinobis, they are merely keepers of a restaurant, where they sell food," Hiroshi said.

He heard Hibiki snicker, and said something that sounded very much like 'loser' under his breath. Hiroshi wasn't too sure whether to laugh, or get angry about it. He did neither.

" Anyway, why did you bring me here? Are you going to teach me how to use puppets?" Hiroshi asked.

" What nonsense! I'm most certainly not doing anything of that sort! What gave you the idea that I would even teach you about such a thing! Trying to disturb me with your trivial needs?" Hibiki almost yelled. _God, this person is strange, why do I put up with him?_ Hiroshi asked himself, wincing at the yell.

Hibiki went up to the corner of the room, and took up a small box, and tossed it at Hiroshi. Hiroshi caught the box, and took a look inside the box. Inside were a number of scrolls, and from the looks of it, it looked like they contained data of some sort. Hibiki then started to walk out of them room when Hiroshi looked though the box.

" Take whatever you want from the room, and go. I trust you are not dumb enough to not be able to find your way out of a house," Hibiki said as he exited the room, leaving Hiroshi quite dumbfounded.

-

" You are back. That sure took some time," Sora said.

" I told you not to wait for me," Hiroshi said, seeing Ryouta and Sora still on top of the roof.

" What's that?" Ryouta asked curiously, seeing the large box Hiroshi seemed to be struggling to carry.

" Puppets..." Hiroshi said as he entered Suzumi's house. Ryouta and Sora looked at each other, rather perplexed and surprised at Hiroshi's answer.

---

Suzumi yawned sleepily as she got up the next day. Sora was still sprawled out asleep, having managed to roll out of her mattress in the middle of the night. Suzumi giggled at the sight, then got up and washed herself. As she came out of her room, a tall figure walked by her room, and she froze.

Her father gave her a knowing stare, and she stood quietly by the door, looking up at him timidly. She felt pressurized at the sight of him. He was a strict father to her, never one for nonsense and always getting Suzumi to excel for their family's name. To be honest, Suzumi was scared of her father most of the time, the way he looked rather coldly towards her. She was saved from his morning mood when Sora walked up next to her and said " Hmm, up so early?"

" Ah, you must be Sora. Pleasure to meet you," Suzumi's father replied, nodding curtly.

" Um…?" Sora moaned, still feeling sleepy.

" Where are your manners Suzumi? How about some introductions?" Suzumi's father replied to his daughter.

" Oh…" Suzumi exclaimed, feeling flushed and embarrassed. " Sora, this is my father, Mr. Nagato. Father, this is Tanaka Sora, shinobi of the Leaf," she said, bowing down. Sora wasn't sure what was with all the formalities and why Suzumi was acting so flustered. Then again, Sora wasn't really one who would bother really much about how to address people properly.

" Indeed…" Mr. Nagato said, walking away before saying " By the way, one of your Leaf friends has asked for permission to use the storage room at the back. I've given him permission, but I have no idea what he's doing there. Why don't you take a look?" Sora and Suzumi looked at each other, puzzled at the events.

" It's gotta be Hiroshi," Sora exclaimed, leaping out of the room before hurrying off towards the storage room.

-

" What the hell is this?!" Sora exclaimed.

Hiroshi merely grinned at the rest of them as they gathered there. The floor was now strewn with pieces of metal and wood which accompanied all the puppet pieces that Hiroshi had scattered all over the storage floor. Multiple metal weapons were littered everywhere, and one had to be careful to not step on them, least one wanted a nice cut on their legs, since most of them were reasonably sharp, despite being in storage for such a long time. Hiroshi was now seated cross-legged in the middle of the mess, a small box right next to him which contained several scrolls, one which he was reading right now.

" Um, Hibiki said I could take whatever I wanted from his storage room…" Hiroshi replied sheepishly.

" Wow, these are detailed scrolls on puppetry arts," Suzumi said, hopping over to where Hiroshi sat, taking out one of the scrolls he had, reading it carefully. She then looked at Hiroshi suspiciously and pouted. " He never gave me these. Why is he being so nice to you?"

" My sentiments exactly…although I'm not really complaining about it," Ryouta laughed.

" Hmm…maybe a change of heart…" Makoto suggested as Sora and Hiroshi continued to pour over the scrolls and manuals Hibiki seemed to have given him.

" You don't know why either?" Ryouta asked.

" Well, he still dislikes all of you to a certain degree, which would explain why he's not here, avoiding the rest of you. But then again, this shows that he is giving some sort of token of appreciation to you guys, or Hiroshi in particular. Don't ask me why. Hiroshi probably did something that made him tick," Makoto replied. " And I mean it in a good way," he continued, seeing Hiroshi's confused expression.

" These are much like notes my family manuals have about using puppets, except these looked like they have been revised and rewritten. Come to think of it, the writings on these scrolls look awfully familiar to Hibiki's writings," Suzumi noted.

" Well, excellent then! Hiroshi can now learn puppet jutsu. I can't wait to see you use it," Ryouta exclaimed.

" Are you serious?" Hiroshi asked.

" Why not? You'll be the first shinobi out of the village of the Sand that knows how to use puppets. Perhaps this time you'll be on even standing with us in terms of skill now," Ryouta laughed. Hiroshi narrowed his eyes, even though he knew Ryouta meant it sarcastically.

" Well, he's actually the 8th, not the first, the only difference being that the rest of those shinobis stole our skills from our village. But no matter, they have been dealt severely," Makoto replied. Hiroshi knew very well when he meant 'dealt severely', he meant killed immediately. He walked up to Hiroshi and squatted down next to him.

" Look, Hiroshi, whatever may come from this, people might not think very highly of you learning such a thing, since after all, we are from different villages, and as far as I am concerned, there will always be hatred embedded in the hearts of shinobis everywhere. However, since you seriously want to learn this, we are fine with that, but you must give me a solemn promise that you will guard this ability as you would guard the secrets of your village," Makoto asked.

" …I will…" Hiroshi answered after a pause.

" I guess I can trust you then…" Makoto replied, grinning.

" Are you going to give me that crap about blind people being able to know whether someone is lying or not, since they have heightened senses?" Hiroshi asked.

" Well, of course not. You have already said so yourself," Makoto replied.

" But shouldn't I get a teacher of sorts, if I really want to learn?" Hiroshi asked.

" Unfortunately, no. We may be willing to help, but then again, we are reluctant to teach. We have no problems with you learning our techniques, but nobody here would be very interested in teaching you our secrets, so unfortunately, if you want to learn the secrets of our jutsus of foreign villages, you will have to do it the hard way: by learning it yourself, just like always. Besides, you have a natural talent for this anyway," Makoto replied.

" He does?" Sora exclaimed in surprise as she was checking one of the spinning saw attached to a long rope wire.

Makoto tapped the weapon launcher on Hiroshi's hand, which he seemed to wear all the time now, as if it was part of his body. " Your weapon launcher uses the basic concept of puppeteers when they want to fire projectiles out of their puppets. Your ability to create such a weapon even when you never knew about puppetry before is quite a feat itself. I mean, Hibiki never helps people unless they can really do something themselves," Makoto answered.

" No wonder he never lent me these scrolls…he figures I have no talent for using puppets," Suzumi pouted at him.

" Sorry about that," Hibiki replied. They spun around and saw him sticking to the ceiling, hanging upside down.

" That's alright," Suzumi said, smiling sweetly. " It's nice to see you join us. I feel that we are incomplete without the six of us. What made you change your mind about the Leafs?"

" My mind has not changed. I'm still pretty confident I dislike them," Hibiki said. Hiroshi and Ryouta caught each others eyes. They both realized that Hibiki used the word 'dislike' instead of 'hate'. However, it seems like Sora still had a bone to pick with him, and walked up to him, her finger pointing right at his face.

" Hey, our match wasn't over. Come down from there and let's have a spar," Sora demanded.

Hibiki was about to reply when something flew over Sora's head and swung around towards him. He caught it deftly with both his hands, and saw that Hiroshi had flung a long spear towards Hibiki, one of the many weapons Hiroshi had taken from his house.

" What's the big idea?" Sora exclaimed, fuming at the fact that Hiroshi tossed him a weapon.

" Come now, all of us are eager to see the two of you battle it out. Trust me, Sora would me much eager to fight you at full strength, and you fight best with a weapon in your hands. I'm just doing both of you a favour," Hiroshi replied, shrugging his shoulders.

" Whoever gave you that idea?!" Sora yelled, clearly not amused.

Hibiki looked at the spear, then to the rest of them, before resting his eyes on Hiroshi for a second. Then, very surprisingly, he broke into a grin, an honest grin this time. Suzumi, and the rest of them, were quite puzzled. Hibiki had never been this happy since the Leaf genins' arrival.

" Are you grinning?" Makoto ventured. Most of them had temporarily forgotten that Makoto was actually blind, but since he could carry himself better than people who had sight, they usually forget that he could not actually see visual things, like expressions, although he 'guesses' was actually pretty scary enough.

" Perhaps I might just like you after all…" Hibiki replied. The rest of them burst out laughing, and it was one of the best moments the six of them enjoyed during their times together.

_Writer's note: Yes, I know it's odd that a Leaf shinobi is learning puppetry, but I still wanted a Leaf shinobi as a main character and I wanted him somehow to use puppets, since it is quite an intriguing way to fight. _


	17. Chapter 16: Jounin Challenge

**Chapter 16: Jounin Challenge**

Days have passed, and since with the inclusion of Hibiki, in a way, inside their group, events had been much livelier now with an extra member. Hibiki still kept a noticeable distance, usually about 10 meters apart from the rest of the Leaf shinobis, usually found perched on a fence or stuck on a wall, and he still retained much of his dark, sarcastic character and traits, but at least he was around more often, and would speak when spoken to. Still stating he disliked Leaf shinobis, this was very much a big change in his behavior, and nobody really complained about it.

There was much discussion on why Hibiki had such a change of heart, most of it revolving about Hiroshi somehow seducing him in some way, which Hiroshi vehemently denied all the time. None of the Leaf shinobis did anything really particular to him, and nothing that might curry his favour, so they were at a lost to why they were now stuck with him hanging in the backgrounds.

However, having Hibiki tagging along with them was the least of their problems. The genins were now getting a bit frustrated at the lack of missions, or in a more technical sense, a lack of decent missions. They had been stuck with crappy missions, mainly involving something to do with the village since their last, rather action packed, herb gathering trip. None of their missions went further than 1 kilometer from the exterior of the Sand village, and the best mission they had was to do border patrol, which was essentially boring, but nonetheless, the best mission there is.

They attempted to keep their minds on other things to kill the boredom. Now armed with large amounts of knowledge to be used, Hiroshi spent most of his free time reading all the scrolls Hibiki had given him. They contained tons of information, ranging from how to use a puppet, how to maintain them, how to install specific weapons and suitable places to place them, attaching equipment to the puppets and how use utilise them properly in a battle. He didn't really start training using puppets until he was quite sure that he knew most of the stuff in the scrolls by heart.

He was joined, most of the time, by Suzumi, who helped him read as well. They had lengthy discussions on the workings of puppets, and since Hibiki kept his warm promise as in not to teach him at all, Hiroshi had to try to figure out most of the things himself. Suzumi helped a lot by teaching him the basics, but since she was more knowledgeable in the medical field, the basics were as far as she could go. The rest would have to be figured out by him. Despite that, they did get along very well, and besides puppetry, they discussed a lot of things ranging from medical jutsus, the history of the Sand village, and the reasons why Sora was so hyper all the time.

Ryouta and Makoto mainly trained together, since both of them were similar due to the fact that they use a lot of elemental jutsus in their attacks. They shared their jutsu scrolls together, and spent a lot of time discussing how to utilize elemental jutsus. Suzumi said despite being blind, Makoto was basically the top in his class, excelling in most fields. It came to no surprise that two rather talented geniuses would come together and discuss important stuff like jutsu development. Hiroshi had seen them attempting to develop new jutsus, something Ryouta always experimented all the time, and having a partner made it much easier to accomplish, not to mention enjoyable.

Sora would usually wander around, checking the storage room where Hiroshi and Suzumi would reside for half the day, bothering them with some comment once in a while, disturb Hiroshi until she was bored, and then go off to disturb the other pair. Whenever Hibiki came along, she would always challenge him to a spar, which he will always strangely accept, and the two of them will make a racket trying to beat each other, but thankfully, nothing serious ever happened.

" What his style?" Hiroshi asked one day when he observed Hibiki and Sora sparring in the main garden, his spear spinning all over the place, parrying Sora's punches.

" Eh?" Suzumi asked, looking up from a scroll. This time, after several days, she had brought along medical texts to read, since most of the stuff Hiroshi was reading was too advance for her to be of any help.

" I mean, what's Hibiki's fighting style? He seems to move in a pattern, but I can't be sure what," Hiroshi replied.

" Oh, interested in taijutsu, are we?" Sora called out, hearing Hiroshi speak.

" Well…vaguely interested…not that I'll be really using them anyway," Hiroshi answered.

Sora broke away from Hibiki, who looked a bit irritated at stopping the match halfway all of a sudden without even telling him, and hopped over to where Hiroshi sat in the garden porch, along with Suzumi. She took his drinking bottle and took a long sip, and having known her habits, Hiroshi decided not to complain about it when she drank form his bottle, placing it back where it came from when she was done, except this time it was empty.

" No, Hiroshi. Taijutsu is a fundamental element in all shinobi fights, and for me, I consider it the most important thing. Nothing beats hand-to-hand combat, or even close combat fighting. All these ninjutsus may be special, but they only go that far," Sora replied, panting slightly after her morning match with Hibiki. Hiroshi noticed that Hibiki was now perched upon the rooftop of the part of Suzumi's house that was right in front of them, looking at them intently. " Ryouta may look cool to you, but then again, there are limits to ninjutsu abilities, and taijutsu is by far, much simpler to understand and use, not to mention train."

This was of course, an opinion that was coming from someone who uses taijutsu most of the time, making it a very bias comment.

" But you use ninjutsu to further enhance your attack strength," Hiroshi replied. " Isn't that..."

" So what? It's still taijutsu," Sora argued.

" But..."

" If you slam your darn fist in front of the enemy's face, I don't care what funny technique you use, it's taijutsu to me!" Sora replied loudly. " Anyway, we are getting off-topic. Anyway, to become an excellent taijutsu combatant, you must either focus on speed, strength or technique. A combination of two or all of them would make one's skills quite deadly. I basically focus on speed and strength attacks, and by combining a bit of some Sound techniques, it's pretty deadly, no?" Sora asked.

" I'm not exactly going to argue with the blunt end of a hammer," Hiroshi mused. Suzumi giggled slightly at the comment. " So, Hibiki uses speed as well, right?"

" Nope, that's where you are quite mistaken. He uses more techniques than speed, and it is basically his techniques that give the illusion that he's actually moving fast. Intriguing really, his fighting style can be divided into sections. First of all is his ability to use his spear. Much of it is just fancy handwork…"

" Hey!" Hibiki exclaimed loudly.

" But there is a trick behind it. I mean, consider this, a spear is more of a trusting weapon, but Hibiki rarely trusts, and besides that, sweeping the enemy with either side of the long ends of the spear would be really stupid, since there is just absolutely no attacking power. He uses the spear more like some pole arm than a real spear. Why, you may ask. Well, you see, there is a reason for that."

" He mainly plays defensively. Notice he spins his spear a lot of times, usually in front of him and he's pretty good at twirling his spear all around. His handwork on the spear is pretty good as well, and as for as basic defense is concerned, he's got that covered. Projectile weapons, even large ones like the windmill shurikens, would just be merely deflected by his spins. Close combat is very much a no-no, unless if you want your hands getting beaten up by his crazy spinning."

" But, spinning isn't all he does. Hibiki is very flexible, and I'd say he's pretty proficient in taijutsu as well. He can shift his angle of his spear very easily, defending all areas around his body, except maybe anything below ground level. His skills in using a spear makes it easy for him to switch between defense and offence easily, catching slow attackers off guard. However, all of his basic attacks pack no punch, and he mainly disrupts the enemy more than attack."

Hiroshi wasn't too sure whether he was following or not. All he was quite sure was that Hibiki was skilled, or more skilled than him at any rate. Period.

" However, he has another skill that's pretty intriguing. Notice when he gets in the mood, he usually does a lot of quick footwork and his speed increases dramatically?"

" Yes, but isn't that very advance Body Flicker technique?" Hiroshi replied.

" Nope. Body Flicker Techniques doesn't leave images of multiple Hibiki's floating around," Sora replied.

" What do you mean?" Hiroshi asked.

" The basics for a normal, or simple, Body Flicker technique is to gather chakra at ones feet, and then with a calculated burst, send oneself in another direction, giving the illusion that one has suddenly disappeared off to another area, but in reality, we just moved very quickly. This may be a basic skill, but really, it is quite an advance technique to be able to master completely. I must say I'm damn good at it, and you won' be catching me anytime with your skills," Sora said. Hiroshi knew that was true. Sora's speed was attributed to her ability to use the Body Flicker technique almost at will, or blast chakra from her feet with calculated precision and accuracy.

" You know, if you are so good at blasting chakra out of your feet, why do you still have trouble just maintaining a constant flow and sticking on a wall vertically?" Hiroshi asked.

" That's beside the question," Sora said, changing the subject immediately. " However, Hibiki utilises the Body Flicker technique to an even higher degree, although I think it should be classified as a different technique altogether. He doesn't control chakra at his feet, he manipulates an element to his advantage."

" Wind?" Hiroshi took a guess.

" Exactly!" Sora replied enthusiastically, pointing a finger at him as he scowled back. " His art of using his spear also utilizes the wind. Channeling wind to his feet, he is able to more or less float around, and an advantage of this is that the enemy will not know where you'll land, since your feet isn't in a way touching the ground. Not only that, by controlling the density of the wind around him and his opponent, plus the surrounding temperature, he's able to create illusions using the wind, and thus, when I spar with him, I always see multiple images of his spinning around me, and they are not clones."

Hiroshi looked at Sora in surprised. Once more, she had proved him wrong that she lacked a brain in most occasions. Sora was very analytical when it came to combat, and that was one of her best strengths. She may appear to act rash and straightforward, but most of the time it's merely a diversion to just observe the enemy. She had been able to analyze Hibiki almost perfectly within the time she had sparred with him. From the looks Hibiki was giving, he wasn't exactly pleased, but was quite surprised she knew so much.

Hiroshi felt quite left behind. He had no skills, unlike his peers. Ryouta and Makoto were excellent ninjutsu users, he had already seen that much, and both were roughly at par with each other. The level in which they exchanged jutsus was actually pretty scary for Hiroshi, since they executed them at such speed and level Hiroshi could not hope to match. Nature manipulation takes an average of 6 months to learn, but Ryouta and Makoto could already use nature manipulation quite well, as seen in their previous fight in their missions, with Ryouta now working on using lightning now.

Sora and Hibiki's taijutsu and close-combat skills were, as Hiroshi liked to put it, pretty insane. Anyone who has the strength and skill to smash a boulder with their bare hands or with some weapon was insane enough in his list. Not only that, their speed and power was far greater than he had imagined, coupled with dangerous techniques, no matter how unconventional they may seem.

Hiroshi took a look at Suzumi, who was now giggling at Sora's description of Hibiki's skills. Suzumi wasn't strong per se, or skilled in ninjutsu, but she had sufficient knowledge in using poisons and genjutsu, which Hiroshi could never hope to counter against. She was a medic-nin as well, and although she isn't skilled in using medical jutsus, wasting a lot of chakra most of the time, Hiroshi knew that being a medic-nin is no simple matter. It was extremely difficult to become medic-nins, and they had to be skilled, knowledgeable and intelligent. He knew that their training was quite rigorous and tough, and for her to come this far was tribute to her ability, which she never takes credit for. It was like what Makoto and Hibiki said: Suzumi never thinks highly of herself, and she believes she's much weaker than she actually is. To be able to trap a jounin level shinobi under genjutsu takes a lot of skill.

Hiroshi felt inferior all of a sudden. What was he skilled at? Nothing, apparently, just your lower than average shinobi. He considered his skills for a while. Setting traps, more or less, but that would be quite useless most of the time unless the enemy is distracted most of the time, or he had some companion to support him. But then again, with the likes of his peers' skills, his trap setting skills look like a mere joke. He was so useless in throwing projectile weapons, basic stuff for all shinobi, that he had to make some mechanism to help him throw them. Besides being handy when it comes to technical stuff and cooking, Hiroshi had no distinct fighting skills. He was even just learning the basics of puppetry, only now.

" But you know, he hasn't shown his best yet. He's keeping a few skills up his sleeves. I know darn well. The only time when Hibiki ever uses a trusting attack is when we first sparred heatedly on that rooftop, and that was already something different," Sora replied.

_Oh brilliant! They even have super powerful jutsus to dish out as a finisher when they are done with the enemy…_Hiroshi thought darkly.

" Something wrong?" Suzumi asked, seeing Hiroshi's expression changing all of sudden.

" Ah…well, nothing really," Hiroshi answered.

" The missions this time are rather bland, don't you agree?" she said in an off-handed manner.

" Um, yeah…" Hiroshi replied, not really focused.

" Yeah, dang it! What they are giving us is kiddy stuff. We need a real mission, one that can make us shine. I've had enough of this crap for a long time now!" Sora fumed.

" Strange to see you complaining," Hibiki remarked.

" Me?!" Sora exclaimed, spinning around, facing him.

" I was talking to the only female person here…obviously not you," Hibiki mused.

" I think I speak for everyone that we are indeed getting bored with these simplistic missions. I'm not one to complain, but if you find me complaining, you know very well it's getting on my nerves already. I can hardly imagine about you people," Suzumi replied. " Oh well, it's not like our senseis can really do anything about it anyway. Perhaps I should just preoccupy myself for the moment."

With that, she took out her medical pack and opened it, sprawling all the contents on the ground. Hiroshi looked curiously as she started to sort through her belongings, ranging from syringes to bottles, all in a very messy manner.

" What are you doing?" Hiroshi asked.

" Organising my stuff. I get pretty messy when I keep my medical equipments, and it's difficult to use them quickly in a real combat situation. Most of the time they are just dumped inside the bag in one lump. Hmm…" she sighed bitterly as she sorted through her stuff.

Hiroshi took one look at her pack, and then stopped her. " Let me help," Hiroshi said, feeling useful for once.

Hiroshi took her medical pack aside, and with a kunai, started to nick the sides off on certain area and compartments in the bag. Sora and Suzumi wanted to shout at him, but withheld their tongues. After all, Hiroshi wasn't one to think cutting up another person's bag as an idea of a joke was fun, and thus, he had some reason for his actions, which hopefully, they will see soon.

Taking out some needle and thread, he started to make some quick work on the bag, sewing it in places, his hands weaving to and fro as the needle went in and out. They were pretty impressed at the speed he was going, sewing the bag back. When he was done, he had neatly sewn the bag back together, but now with different compartments, and it now had an odd square shaped look, unlike the original rounder type. Hiroshi then proceeded to fill up the bag, packing each item into their specific compartments, simple enough for Suzumi to use easily.

Suzumi glanced at her newly improved bag with all her equipments in order as Hiroshi placed it back on her lap. She then looked up at him and said, smiling " You are pretty awesome, aren't you?"

Hiroshi could only smile back.

---

Shikamaru sat inside one of the Sand village's archives, looking through some of the files they had. The Leaf and Sand had cooperated in bringing an end to the remnants of the old Sound village where the Legendary Sannin Orochimaru, a disciple of the Third Hokage and later became an S-ranked missing ninja of the village. Since his demise, both villages had attempted to eradicate much of whatever was left of his forces, which were in disarray mainly. However, even though successful, some of his ninjas slipped through the cracks, and were now wandering around with their own personal goals.

Maya was one of them.

According to ANBU records, Maya was supposedly under some organization recently set up. There had been a lot of rumours about this organization, but they did nothing of real large scale, so most of the countries were not too bothered with their activities. Maya, however, had a previous terrorist record before joining this organization. She had attempted assassinations, half of them successful, against some Lords of the countries. It didn't really matter who, all she was interested in was something to do. However, her activities had been quiet of late, and it was presumed that she was dead.

Apparently not.

Shikamaru browsed though another file when he was done. None of them held any records of her when they did the initial siege of the Sound village. Her name, particularly, was only in the list years later, which surprised Shikamaru because this meant that most of her actions were done after Orochimaru's régime. Was she under Orochimaru, or not?

However, as a missing-nin, she was pretty dangerous. Shikamaru had placed some thought on it, and deduced that the shinobi that he fought during the mission in the canyon with Sakura were not missing-nins, but merely rogues who had been given a crash course in learning shinobi arts. Missing-nins were hard to find, and they had trouble finding allies they can rely upon. So, to solve this problem, they obtain some manpower, although not skilled, but teaching talented rogues they pick up on the way shinobi arts. It was a quick way for them to bolster their forces using bandits and rogues among the common people. This was evident because the shinobis he fought knew Sound jutsus, but none of them had the flair of Sound-nins like he knew very well.

However, that level of jutsu, the one where they turned the ground to dust using sound waves, was new to him. Konoha had made in-depth studies on Sound jutsus, and many of the shinobi developers listed down a lot of information about the Sound ninjutsus from the spies they had and the prisoners they had taken in. Shikamaru was in-charge of one of the assault teams during the siege. His brain was still soaked with what Hyuuga Neji told him about nearly all the Sound techniques. His brain was smart enough to tell him whatever they used was a new technique, or at least, one Konoha didn't know previously.

Konoha had an extensive list of Sound jutsus in their archives, and they were quite open for public use. It was evident that Sora had put them to good use, throwing a mix of her taijutsu with Sound ninjutsu in her attacks. However, Shikamaru was now worried about what Maya was up to.

It was obvious that she was after the genins. Question was why? Shikamaru had some dark thoughts about her using genins as experiments, since she is after all associated with Orochimaru, who was infamous for his multiple tests on human beings in his quest for higher power. Also, they weren't exactly too interested in them, since if they could almost kill Hiroshi, then it meant that they could care less if they killed a couple of them.

There had been no further reports on any suspicious activities, and all seemed safe at the moment, but Shikamaru knew better than that. Unless she was caught or found dead, she wouldn't be resting.

" Here again?" Temari asked, walking up to him.

" Hmm, yes…" Shikamaru merely mused.

" Take a break, will you?" Temari suggested.

" How? None of your jounins have given us anything significant, except that Maya has been quiet," Shikamaru sighed.

" Hey," she said softly, wrapping her hands around his neck, and he could clearly smell the scent of her body. " Stop stressing out over these things. You are no longer a member of your ANBU division, so forget it, alright. We'll leave it for other people to figure this out." She then kissed him lightly on his cheek. He merely grunted, frowning. " Damn it, you could at least give me some attention, you know…"

" Sorry about that…I'm just not myself," Shikamaru answered, raising his hand and patting her cheek.

" Come now, why don't we go see our students?" Temari suggested, disengaging herself from Shikamaru.

" What for? The moment I see them they are going to complain to me about how boring their missions are as of now," Shikamaru replied.

---

" When Shikamaru sensei comes, I'm going to complain to him about how boring our missions are as of now," Sora said.

" Well, excellent. You'll be our spokesperson, and there is no one else better suited than you," Makoto piped up.

" Oh, you guys are here?" Suzumi exclaimed happily, seeing Ryouta and Makoto walk into the garden compound. As soon as Ryouta's eyes met Hiroshi's, both of them immediately leaped to their feet and formed hand seals as fast as they could, with Ryouta leading by a fraction of a second.

" Wind Release: Wind Bullet!" both of them exclaimed, firing a blast of air from their mouths. The wind bullets slammed into each other in mid-air and dissipated into nothing. The rest of them didn't really act surprised, as they sort of expected it anyway.

Hiroshi was unable to execute the jutsu Ryouta taught him, his first ever ninjutsu skill, so they figured that Hiroshi could only actually use ninjutsu when he is in some sort of danger, so under Makoto's suggestion, Ryouta was to strike him with the same jutsu every time they met each other, and Hiroshi would have to counter it properly with the similar jutsu of roughly the same strength. He had yet to fail to execute it since then.

" Excellent, your moves are a bit rushed, but other than that your chakra collection is pretty much fine. You are improving greatly," Ryouta honestly praised.

" What the heck do you mean rushed?! You fired that a fraction faster than I did," Hiroshi argued.

" Well, unlike you, I wasn't forcing it out," Ryouta answered.

" You suck. Ryouta knows…" Sora started.

" More than enough ninjutsus, thank you…don't need to remind us all the time," Hiroshi replied, feeling a bit sour.

" Hey, no hard feelings. We excel in certain areas. Anyway, how's that puppet jutsu coming along?" Ryouta asked.

Hiroshi immediately attached a string to his kunai, and a second later, had it levitating in the air by flowing chakra into the strings. He made it hover in mid-air for a while, before firing it off towards a certain direction where he though nobody was present, or so he thought anyway.

" Whoa, watch where you throw these things!" Shikamaru exclaimed, catching the kunai in mid-air as he appeared out of the corner of the building, along with Temari, who still carried her ridiculously huge fan everywhere.

Hiroshi noted that she always used the fan to attack, and using all wind based ninjutsu. Unlike what he had seen from Makoto and Ryouta, she never formed any seals to attack, nor expel air from her surroundings. All she did was just wave her fan about, and large gust of wind tore through the place, usually sharp winds with her chakra embedded in the air. Hiroshi thought her fan was pretty convenient since all she needed to do was wave her fan and it created enough power to wipe people off their feet. It was, however, hard to imagine how she could perform ninjutsu without seals, not to mention if it was so easy, he had yet to see anyone else in the village carry a fan as ridiculously large as hers, and Makoto, Suzumi and Hibiki concluded she was the only shinobi to use such a weapon. There had to be some trick behind it, or so Ryouta said.

" Sensei, you have perfect timing!" Sora exclaimed loudly, pointing her finger accusingly at him.

" Oh?" he said in a mildly surprising voice, although all of them knew he expected it somehow.

" Yes! Our missions lately have been crap, unfitting even for genins of our calibre! I'd be damned if I take another of those crappy gardening missions. Heck, we don't even do proper gardening!" Sora yelled loudly. Shikamaru could somehow feel his ears ring from the level of the sound she was emitting.

" Come now, don't be unreasonable. It's still dangerous outside with whatever that happened previously. It's not like we are preventing you from taking up a mission, it's just due to the circumstances," Temari argued.

" But it's still...boring..." Makoto replied. The rest of them nodded in agreement.

Shikamaru looked at Temari for a while, then said " Alright, I have a proposal for all six of you. Want to hear me out?"

" We are not going for a trip to the nearby restaurant. You owe us that much anyway," Sora scowled.

" No, hear me out," Shikamaru said, raising his hands in defense " The reason why we are not taking a lot of missions outside the village is due to the fact that there are dangerous shinobis lurking all around, and we are still unsure of the status of the area as of yet. Since you are all merely genin, I feel it's a bit dangerous to take you any further than this until we get a good grip on the situation."

" Peh!" Sora spat, squatting down.

" However, since all of you are pretty confident in yourselves, I'm going to put your skills to the test and see how you all fare. I want all six of you to attack me at once, and if you can beat me into submission, then I'll let you chose whatever mission available that you want to take, no questions asked. How about that?"

_Writer's note: Elemental control doesn't go beyond two before the jounin level, but Ryouta's case is a bit special. All might be revealed later. _

_ With his skills, Shikamaru might have joined the ANBU group at one point, but perhaps I can't see him staying too long with his attitude, that is why he's no longer in it. Also, I've received a few comments that Shikamaru doesn't smoke anymore. After rereading the previous chapters, I realised this was true, so we can possibly kick it up to him picking up his old senseis bad habits once more.  
_


	18. Chapter 17: Shikamaru vs LeafSand 6

**Chapter 17: Shikamaru vs. Leaf/Sand 6**

" What the hell did you say?" Sora exclaimed.

" Come now, I'm sure you all heard me. If all six of you can best me in a fight, then I won't need to worry about foreign shinobi picking on you since you all can handle yourselves sufficiently," Shikamaru replied casually. Most of them raised their eyebrows. It was certainly surprising, and strange, for Shikamaru to do things on a whim in such a fashion.

" Hey, Shikamaru, what are you thinking?" Temari exclaimed.

" Relax, it's not like they can beat me anyway," Shikamaru answered.

" I heard that!" Sora exclaimed.

" It's up to you. You aren't going to be going anywhere anyway, so this will be your only chance if you want a mission, that is if you are up to it. You all aren't aware of what exactly is out there. Perhaps you all should taste what real danger is," Shikamaru replied. Hiroshi noted an odd tone in his voice he felt, which sounded like Shikamaru was irked in some way.

" Sensei, are you getting angry because we have been pestering you lately for missions?" Hiroshi asked guiltily.

" Well, no...I understand your problem, but there is no way I can let you all loose out there with dangerous shinobi around. If you can beat me and prove that the combined forces of the six of you are better than a jounin, then we can consider that," Shikamaru answered. " Either way, it might be fun to see how you all fare against me."

" We beat a jounin once, we can beat another again," Sora replied.

" I don't know where that confidence comes from. You merely bested the previous one totally by luck, and if he was actually fighting you seriously, you'd all be dead. You were all lucky since he wanted to capture you alive if possible, and with that it already places him at a great disadvantage. Well, anyway, if you all are so confident in beating me, then it should not be of any problem anyway. Besides, I need to sharpen my skills once in a while, and the six of you should do nicely," Shikamaru replied.

" What are we, guinea pigs?" Hiroshi asked.

" Not really...even as a jounin, I still need to stay sharp," Shikamaru replied.

" It's strange to see you take the initiative," Temari replied.

" Well, I guess I picked up a bad habit somewhere," he said, winking to the rest of them before he walked away. " If you are up to it, meet me at the Sand villages 3rd training ground. I give you all five minutes to come up with some strategy to fight against me. Temari here can be the judge."

" Some strategy?" Hibiki mused.

" A word of warning, kids. Shikamaru is no push-over when he is serious. Do keep that in mind," Temari said, before following Shikamaru away.

-

" What the heck? Plan some strategy? I say we just go in there and dish out as much damage as we possibly can!" Sora exclaimed after the two jounins had left.

" Now, now, there is no need to rush. We are after all facing a jounin here, and your sensei no less, and as far as I am concerned, Shikamaru sensei is no pushover. Wasn't he like part of some division in your special forces before? Kinda hard to believe that since he's not even 20 yet," Makoto said as the rest of them gathered around a small circle, with Hibiki standing two meters behind them. " Well, you all probably know him much better. What is his fighting style? Getting a rough overview would be a good idea."

" I know. Sora?" Ryouta replied.

" What?"

" Some input here. After all, you are the best when it comes to analysing people. Why don't you explain his abilities a bit?" Ryouta suggested. Sora raised her eyebrows, then shrugged her shoulders in indifference.

" Oh well...alright, as far as we know, his main ability is to control shadows. He manipulates his shadows to meld with ours, and with that, he can trap you in his jutsu. Once caught, there is possibly no escape, unless someone else can disrupt him somehow, then you might be able to break free. I've not seen him do anything that relates to taijutsu, and he doesn't seem to have any strength to back him up in that department anyway. I doubt he knows genjutsu. As far as I am concerned, his Shadow Imitation technique is his only technique. He probably knows some other things as well," Sora replied.

" Seeing that, we can probably guess he's fighting style is by catching the opponent. As far as shadows are concerned, he's a sort of mid-range fighter, and using close range attacks is very much a no-no against him. We will need to attack him from afar. This will cause Sora and Hibiki some problems," Makoto replied.

" We could just whiz around him and then strike at the opportune moment," Hibiki suggested.

" Not particularly wise. If he uses his shadows, close combat would be really risky unless we can strike him in one blow. After all, I believe his shadows can capture more than one target," Ryouta answered.

" He knows Earth elemental jutsus as well," Hiroshi replied.

" Hmm, how do you know this?" Ryouta asked, raising his eyebrows.

" We were training once, and he showed me that he knew how to use earth element...well, to some degree anyway," Hiroshi replied.

" We can just assume that he knows it," Ryouta replied.

" What actually happens when he catches you?" Hiroshi asked.

Ryouta pondered upon the thought for a while. " Think he controls you in some way...I think...I'm not too sure though," Ryouta replied.

" Any plans?" Suzumi asked.

" Do you think Suzumi's genjutsu might work against him?" Ryouta suggested.

" He might not be that dumb to fall for it," Suzumi replied.

" We can try. Alright, here's the basic plan, Makoto and I will stall him with our ninjutsu. Hiroshi, since you are equipped with multiple weapons, you will back Sora up as she whizzes around sensei. Hibiki will guard Suzumi while she prepares her attack, since he will be more suited to deflect any projectile weapons Shikamaru throws. There is a certain range in which his shadows can stretch, so as long as we keep our distance, we should be safe enough. How long do you need to prepare your stuff?" Ryouta asked.

" Um...3 minutes?" Suzumi replied tentatively.

" Well then, we will need to guard her for 3 minutes, then we can set things up. Since we will need to personally throw the poison dust she uses on him, we will leave that to Sora and Hibiki. After that, we'll slowly deal with him. So, the main idea is that we will be playing this defensively in the beginning. I'll run through all the procedures once more before we leave."

---

Ryouta was slightly puzzled at why Shikamaru chose the 3rd training grounds. It was just a large vast expense of land, about several meters in diameter. Over flat land, and under the afternoon sun, it would be very obvious where his shadow is. This would place him under some slight advantage, or so he thought.

Temari and Shikamaru were already waiting over there when they arrived. The six of them arrived in the training grounds, and Temari looked up at them. Shikamaru was crouching down on the ground, his hands in the form of some sort of weird seal. They wondered what he was up to. He held both his hands together, thumb against thumb and the rest of his fingers pressed against his other fingers, holding both his hands in the shape of a circle. It didn't look like a seal for a jutsu, or it was an unfamiliar seal. Moreover, he had his eyes closed, and he opened them when they approached him.

" What are you doing, sensei?" Hiroshi asked.

" Thinking," he replied, getting up.

" Thinking? Of what?" Sora exclaimed.

" Of how to handle the six of you. I doubt the six of you will be pushovers, even if you are merely genins," he answered.

" Were we supposed to take that as some sort of complement?" Ryouta asked.

" Perhaps...well, since you are all here, I assume you are ready. Shall we start?" Shikamaru asked, standing up.

" How serious do you want us to be in this match?" Makoto asked.

" Come to me with all the intention to kill. Assume I'm an enemy, and my goal is to kill all of you," Shikamaru said in a deadpan manner. He tucked something in his shinobi pack that was hooked behind him on his belt, before replying " Are you all ready?"

" This feels a bit rushed..." Hiroshi moaned.

" Let's start. The moment this kunai drops to the ground, we start," Temari replied, smiling at the two sides. The genins braced themselves. Shikamaru merely gave them an odd grin, totally calm despite the situation. Temari raised her hand which held a kunai, then released her grip on it. The kunai slowly dropped to the ground.

It hit the floor with a dully thud, and Temari leaped back immediately

Makoto and Ryouta leaped forward, their hands flying up to form seals. Shikamaru merely looked at them as they combined their elements together to fire a powerful wave of fire in his direction. As he backed off, he saw Hiroshi and Sora starting to flank them while Suzumi and Hibiki moved back immediately. He could see her open her medical pack as she started to prepare something. The wall of fire continued to build around him as Ryouta and Makoto continued their barrage, relentless in pushing him as far as possible from Suzumi.

Shikamaru took out several explosive notes, and threw them to form a line in front of him. Ryouta and Makoto winced as the tags blew up, throwing their flames backwards. Their line of vision was now blurred by smoke and flame. They raised their hands to shield themselves, but Makoto heard something in the air.

" Hibiki!" he exclaimed. Something whizzed past them, and it was so small and so fast they it could only be a needle. Hibiki stood in front of Suzumi immediately and swung his spear around. There was a ringing sound, and he saw a needle drop to the floor. Makoto and Ryouta returned their attention towards Shikamaru's direction.

" Here it comes," Ryouta exclaimed.

A long, thin black line shot out from behind the line of smoke and flame, shooting towards them in general. The four of them: Hiroshi, Ryouta, Makoto and Sora leaped back, keeping their distance from Shikamaru's shadow. The shadow started to break up into multiple coils, breaking up all over the place, snaking along the ground towards them. They moved even further back, and soon enough, the shadow started to stop stretching after a while. The smoke and flame cleared itself, and Shikamaru could be seen some distance away, kneeling with one knee on the ground, his hands tightly formed in a seal, his shadow trailing out from beneath him, attempting to reach out for them.

" There we go, his limit," Ryouta replied.

All of a sudden, the points of his shadow which reached out towards Sora and Hiroshi suddenly shortened themselves and the ones nearest to Ryouta and Makoto started to spread out, shotting out towards their shadows. Both of them leaped back together, avoiding the approaching shadow.

" Hey, why are you sticking so close to me?" Ryouta asked Makoto as he backed up.

" Hey, I'm blind, remember? I can't exactly see his shadow, so I'm just following the sound of your footsteps to determine where to go," Makoto replied.

Hiroshi fired a barrage of kunais at Shikamaru's direction. Shikamaru whipped out his kunai and deflected the kunais with expert precision. Feeling a bit surprised, Hiroshi fired more projectiles at Shikamaru, throwing multiple shurikens. Shikamaru dropped to the ground to avoid them hitting him, but one thing was obvious: he didn't want to budge from the spot he had placed himself upon.

" He's not moving?" Ryouta mused, seeing Shikamaru's actions. Slighty more than half a minute of time had passed since the start, and Suzumi should be finishing her poison soon enough. They need to stall for more time, but with Shikamaru staying so far away and not wanting to move, it didn't seem to difficult.

Shikamaru suddenly whipped out two blades, which look more like trench knives. Holding them for a while, he them proceeded to throw them in their general direction, aiming for Sora. Sora wanted to dodge them, but stayed still at the last minute as both knives when flying past her.

" Sora, run!" Hioshi exclaimed.

Shadows had started to extend from the knives, reaching out like tendrils from their own shadows. Shikamaru had infused his chakra into the knives, along with part of his shadow, and now they acted as part of his body away from him. Clasping his hands again, he focused the rest of his shadows to head towards Sora, coming in the front. She was quite trapped, since shadows from the knives were lengthening from behind her, and several more came from in front of her.

" One down…" Shikamaru replied.

" Bah, you are too overconfident!" Sora replied. She formed several seals immediately, preparing a jutsu. Just as Shikamaru's shadows tried to reach her, she slammed her hand on the ground, blowing up a crater as she blasted herself aside, landing several feet away. Even with the shadows surrounding her, she managed to somehow skid across them.

" I knew it. If you move fast enough as to not allow your shadow to linger around too long, even if you pass his shadow, he's still unable to catch you," Sora said. " You can't catch me with that using speed. I'm much faster than you."

" Awesome, Sora!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

Shikamaru formed another batch of seals, and then slammed his hands on the ground. They felt a rumble, them rocks spikes started to emerge in a random fashion all around the training field, littering the field with spires.

" That was not very accurate," Sora exclaimed.

" He wasn't aiming for us!" Ryouta replied.

And Shikamaru wasn't. Ryouta spotted Shikamaru moving his shadow under the shadow now created by his newly made spires, and all of a sudden, it seemed to stretch around at an incredible length, swarming here and there, threatening to overtake them in seconds.

" He's extending his reach using the other shadows! Back off! He'll reach us soon enough!" Ryouta said.

The rest of them backed off immediately, but Shikamaru's shadows were now moving too fast for them to escape it in time. Moreover, it had now reached twice the distance from the original body than was before, and it showed no signs of stopping. Ryouta did some quick calculation, and figured out that from the length he was stretching up to, he'd be able to even reach Suzumi by now. If she was disturbed while in the middle of preparing her jutsu, it might mean the end for them.

" Wait! Makoto, do you know the locations of the spires that emerged from the sound they made when they came up?!" Sora suddenly exclaimed.

" Yes, but why?!" Makoto asked.

Ryouta suddenly realized something in Sora's words. " Sora, you are a genius! Hiroshi, I need all your explosive tags and flashbangs you can give me right now!"

" What?!"

" Now!"

Hiroshi immediately took out all the flash bangs and explosive notes he could take out of his weapon launcher, whipping out a total of 20 notes and 5 flash bangs, and tossed them towards Ryouta. He passed the explosive notes towards Makoto saying " Follow the sound of the shurikens, then jump when I tell you, and when you do that, throw the tags upon the spires as quickly as you can."

"I trust you know what you are doing," Makoto said, turning around and running back in the opposite direction. Ryouta took out a shuriken as tossed it somewhere ahead of Makoto, hitting the ground somewhere in-between him and Shikamaru's fast approaching shadows. Just as he was about to reach Makoto, Ryouta yelled " Jump!"

At that moment, Ryouta flung the flash bang in front of Makoto as he jumped into the air. The flashbang went off, lighting up the area in bright white light. All of a sudden, Shikamaru's shadow shrunk all of a sudden, dropping backwards. Makoto flung several explosive notes all around, blasting the spires to pieces. Shikamaru raised his eyebrows.

" Impressive…" he muttered. _Sora deduced that the only thing I'm actually manipulating is my own shadow, and I'm just merely manipulating other shadows to lengthen my own. With that, they used a flash bang to disrupt the rock spires' shadows, and with that, they shortened the advancement of my own shadow since the shadow I'm manipulating is now lost due to the flash bang. Not only that, they used Makoto's blindness to break my rock spires using Hiroshi's explosive notes. Ryouta instructed him to jump up so when he used the flash bang, since Makoto's directly above it, it wouldn't cast a shadow below him just in case my shadow didn't shrink far enough. Makoto's immune to the flash bangs, and thus he can attack while it lights up._

" Hmm, I didn't expect Sora to see through that attack. It seems she understands the properties of my shadow attacks," Shikamaru sighed.

" Bah, I'm awesome!" Sora said, thumbing her chest.

" But then again, that might be the last brag you'll be doing…" Shikamaru replied, chuckling. Ryouta, Hibiki and Makoto frowned. He didn't seem the least bit concern, which might mean a bluff, or he had something else up his sleeve.

" You are loosing, Shikamaru," Temari called out.

" Barely…" he muttered.

Ryouta threw several more rounds, and after blowing up several more spires most of it were reduced to mere rubble, unable to cast a shadow anywhere. Shikamaru's shadow dropped back several meters, and he was quite stuck. By that time, Suzumi had already finished her poison, and she stood up when she was done.

" I've got a couple of pellets here," Suzumi said, passing them to Sora and Hibiki, who took a small plastic capsule each. " It doesn't need to hit him directly, all it needs is to touch his skin, or have him inhale it, then it will be set."

" Gotcha! Come one, Hibiki, let's roll!" Sora replied. Hibiki merely nodded. Both of them dashed up towards Shikamaru immediately, with the rest of them following from behind.

Shikamaru flipped out an explosive note tagged to a kunai, and threw it in their direction. Makoto did his hand seals for the jutsu, and blew out a gust of wind from his mouth. The wind knocked the kunai off-course, blowing it aside. Shikamaru then threw several shurikens at them, which were promptly countered by Hiroshi as he flung a large windmill shuriken in the shuriken's direction, knocking all of them aside. There was no point in him attempting to fend them off using mere shinobi tools. Hiroshi just had too much of them inside his weapon launchers.

" Fire Release: Mythical Phoenix Technique!"

Several fireballs were thrown in Shikamaru's direction. All Shikamaru did was twist his body about to avoid getting hit, but he still stuck both his legs on the ground. This puzzled Ryouta. Why was he so adamant on sticking to where he was? He could just easily leap aside to avoid the blow rather than risking getting hit by taking it head on, just avoiding by fractions.

" He's up to something… he is sticking there for some reason. Spread out and force him off his spot. He can't defend a wide area all at once," Ryouta exclaimed. All of them spread out in the shape of a semi-circle, and when Ryouta gave the signal, all of them threw three shurikens at him. Hiroshi and Hibiki even took the effort to attach shurikens to long, chakra strings, and fire them several feet above their heads towards Shikamaru to give a wider attack range.

It didn't bother him. He formed several seals, and his shadow contracted considerably. Just as the shurikens were about to hit, multiple tendrils shot out from the floor all around him, knocking the shurikens aside.

" What the hell?!" Hiroshi exclaimed. This time, it wasn't mere shadows, but something that took some form and shape. Shikamaru now made his newly formed shadows and picked up the littered shurikens on the ground, and flung them at the genins, who leaped away.

" Hey, how the hell did his shadow take form?!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Doesn't matter now, we are close enough," Ryouta replied.

Shikamaru's eyes flicked to the side, and caught the blur of movement. He extended his shadow to his right, forcing Hibiki to back off, but he was close enough to fling Suzumi's pellet at him. Shikamaru made one of his solid tendrils dig into his weapon pack and throw a smoke bomb, which hit the pellet squarely in the middle, both of them bursting at once. The blast from the smoke pellet threw the poison dust backwards, coating Hibiki in it.

Sora dashed in on his right, but when he tried to extend his shadow towards her direction, she performed a Body Flicker technique and was up and away, not before tossing her poison pellet. However, she didn't toss it at him. She tossed it in a general direction several meters in front of him.

" Wind Release: Wind Gust!"

Makoto blasted wind right at Shikamaru, kicking up a lot of sand and dust in the process. The wind blast broke the pellet, and started to spray the area Shikamaru was in with the poison dust. The genins stopped their advance and backed off, guessing that they had found their mark. Suzumi clasped her hands together, getting ready to cast her genjutsu.

" Damn…" Ryouta spat.

When the dust settled, they could see that Shikamaru had now wrapped his entire body in his own shadow, so that he looked like one dark piece of mass kneeling on the ground. The white poison dust could be seen scattered all over his dark silhouette body, but when he removed his shadow, they merely fell off, and he was unaffected by the attack.

However, something burst right in front of him all of a sudden, engulfing him in a cloud of smoke. He coughed slightly, not before seeing that his body was now coated in a layer of fine, white dust.

" You let your guard down, sensei!" Hiroshi exclaimed, as he was the one who had fired the last capsule. Suzumi had made a total of three of them, but kept one secret from Shikamaru's eyes. " Suzumi, now!"

" Alright! Harbinger of Control: 5 Senses!" Suzumi exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she executed her genjutsu. There was a tentative silence in the air when she finished her sentence, then nothing happened. However, Suzumi spoke after a while, but it was not good news.

" Guys, I hate to tell you this, but I think Shikamaru sensei has caught me…" she replied.

_Writer's note: There, a challenge match between Shikamaru and the genins. Just had to put it in._

_Also, I just realised that Hiroshi is the name of the human marionette or puppet, depending on how you see it, in Perfect Girl Evolution. Odd coincidence. _

_ Also, I will not be updating this fic, or anything else, for the next two weeks, because I shall be unavailable, hence, a double chapter this week just for kicks. _


	19. Chapter 18: The Master of Shadows

**Chapter 18: The Master of Shadows**

It was rather hard to believe at first, but it made sense. Suzumi wouldn't be standing there like an idiot, her arms suddenly hanging loose all of a sudden. They looked at Shikamaru, who was still kneeling on the ground, his hands together in the form of a seal, and he was grinning.

" Shadow Imitation Technique…success," he replied. " One down, five to go."

" Wait a second, where the hell is his shadow?" Hibiki exclaimed. Indeed, it was a puzzling thing. From the way Suzumi was standing, it was obvious that she had been trapped by Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation technique, but his shadow was not nearby. In fact, he had not attached his shadow on hers.

As they were puzzling over the strange turn of events, Hiroshi suddenly felt something wrap his body all of a sudden. It felt foreign, like water washing all over him, and the next moment he realized that he was stuck as well. Then it dawned on him immediately.

" Guys, get out of here! He is moving his shadow underground!" Hiroshi yelled. Apparently, Shikamaru's technique didn't allow him to hold his mouth shut.

His warning didn't reach them in time. Shikamaru suddenly stood up and swung his left hand backwards. Hiroshi and Suzumi all of a sudden followed his actions, swinging their arms, which were beyond their control, hitting both Makoto and Ryouta respectively. Both of them raised their hands to block the blow, but that was a bad idea. As soon as their hands made contact, Ryouta and Makoto found that they were rooted to the spot as well. Forcing Hiroshi and Suzumi to hit their comrades, Shikamaru used the opportunity to connect their shadows together, and thus, trapping them in his jutsu as well. Sora and Hibiki leaped back several meters, keeping their distance.

" My bad…four down, two to go," Shikamaru replied.

" Damn it!" Sora exclaimed.

" Back off further!" Makoto exclaimed.

" Why?" Hibiki asked, but Sora immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him back. She didn't stop running until they reached the end of the training grounds.

" What the heck did you do that for?" Hibiki yelled angrily.

" Listen, mutton head, we are now at a serious disadvantage, and I blame it on the fact that we didn't notice it earlier. We should have realized it when Hiroshi said that Shikamaru used Earth jutsus," Sora replied.

" What?" Hibiki exclaimed.

" Oh God, haven't you figure out already? He used earth elemental jutsus to create tunnels for his shadow to travel underneath our feet. Moreover, there is no light underground, which means an unlimited supply of shadows to manipulate. His reach is limitless!" Sora replied.

" Wait, but I didn't see him perform any earth jutsus," Hibiki replied.

" What?"

" Perform seals to form earth jutsus. Use your brain as well. He can't form tunnels all of a sudden underground by just slamming his hands on the ground. He needs to form hand seals to use ninjutsu to make them. As far as we have observed, he didn't perform any earth based ninjutsu, besides the one where he formed all the spires," Hibiki argued.

Ryouta figured that Hibiki had a valid point. Shikamaru was visible most of the time, and as far as they had seen, he didn't form any hand seals to perform the ninjutsu needed. So, how did he form the tunnels beneath them anyway?

" You have pretty much lost, with me taking half your attack force. I would think you can surrender now," Shikamaru replied teasingly.

" Oh hell no! In fact, I think I'll just go all out against you!" Sora exclaimed.

Ryouta admired her spirit, but he did think that the situation was now hopeless. Shikamaru had managed to get enough time to set up his traps with his underground tunnels, not to mention he had managed to catch all the long range fighters, or perhaps he had already thought this though. Even if Sora and Hibiki were to attack, they would be at a disadvantage since they were close range fighters, and they were badly matched against Shikamaru's skill.

" We won't know until we try, won't we?" Sora replied. " Let's do this…" She made the appropriate seals, and then focused chakra to her hand. There was an enormous buildup of power in her right hand, and there was a weird ringing sound in the air.

" Are you trying to kill me with that technique?" Shikamaru asked.

" Supersonic Palm Strike!"

There was a sonic boom in the air, and Hibiki raised his hands as the surrounding area around Sora exploded, sending bits of rock and sand all over. But the most noticeable thing was that she had somehow disappeared. He took a look around, as did the other trapped genins, to look for Sora. She seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

That lasted only for a second. Another sonic boom erupted, and Sora had appeared right in front of Shikamaru. The sound energy in her hand erupted all around her, and it send out a shockwave-like ripple all around when she made contact. Hiroshi winced as he felt the blast, as if she had set off an explosion with her bare hands. The only problem was her hand had managed to hit nothing solid.

" What?!" she exclaimed, seeing her hand sinking into Shikamaru's body, as if he was some sort of ghost of sorts. Sora was now too close to avoid Shikamaru's shadow, and he promptly caught her with his shadow. His shadow stretched out and touched hers, and Sora soon felt the familiar sensation of his jutsu catching her once more.

" Hidden Mist Secret Technique…Water Illusion Mirage. It's a ninjutsu that sets up a holographic image of someone, just like a mirage of an oasis you would see in a desert when you have been wandering around too long," Shikamaru said, or the mirage body of Shikamaru said.

Shikamaru's actions all made sense now, Ryouta thought. He was unable to move his body because a mirage doesn't have a shadow, since it was merely an ethereal body. So, if the mirage moved, and when they saw that his shadow was not following it, it would be obvious that this projection was a fake, and not only that, they would realize that Shikamaru was actually in fact underground, and had been all this while. He had projected his shadow from a now rather visible hole he made on the ground as the mirage disappeared, having served its purpose already.

Hibiki felt a tremor beneath him, and leaped back as a pair of hands attempted to grab his feet. Shikamaru tore out of the ground, having all the intent of catching Hibiki and ending the match. Shikamaru took out a flash bang, and tossed it immediately at Hibiki. Hibiki realized that Shikamaru was going to lengthen Hibiki's shadow with the flash bang, and immediately leaped back. However, when he landed on his feet, he found that he was stuck as well. He stared in surprise as the flash bang landed on the ground, an obvious dud.

" I'm sorry, that were just a clone of me," Shikamaru replied form behind him. His clone dispersed in a puff of smoke, and Hibiki would make out an outline of him standing behind him. Hibiki had been too nervous in trying to avoid Shikamaru's shadow that he failed to notice the one emerging from the ground was merely a clone, a diversion to make him fall back, where Shikamaru was really waiting behind him.

" Oh well…Shikamaru wins then," Temari said. The genins then all gave a groan of displeasure, feeling rejected that they had lost.

-

" That was crazy, sensei! When did you hide underground?" Hiroshi said after the match was over and Shikamaru had released all of them from his jutsu. They were now slowly heading back to Suzumi's house, but Hiroshi kept pestering his sensei to explain how they were so easily defeated.

" When I first had the chance. When Ryouta and Makoto threw the large fire/wind combination jutsu at me, I took that opportunity to immediately hide underground. When the flame and dust had settle, I had my mirage set up and I was already underground," Shikamaru replied.

" Why a mirage? Wouldn't a simple clone serve the same purpose, using less chakra in fact?" Hiroshi asked.

" No, as you can see, a clone would immediately disperse when damaged, while a mirage will still stay there. Thus, it was easier to fool you all with a mirage than a clone. Moreover, if you realized by now, a mirage, unlike a clone, cannot move…well, it can actually, but moving it would use a tremendous amount of chakra, one which I don't really have in abundance," Shikamaru explained.

" Which would be another reason why your mirage didn't seem to move from the spot, since a mirage can't cast a shadow as well," Ryouta remarked.

" Exactly…"

" Shikamaru sensei, you seemed to have planned everything out before we even arrived, not to mention anticipate our moves. How far were you thinking ahead?" Suzumi asked curiously.

" Far enough…" Shikamaru replied. When seeing the reactions on the genins' faces, he continued with " Hey, I'm not trying to brag here. Look, I'll explain."

" I had to take into consideration a lot of factors, since after all, I am at a serious disadvantage in terms of numbers, and unlike Temari sensei, I can't handle multiple enemies as well as she can, for obvious reasons. I figured that you already knew the basics of how my jutsu works, and you will plan accordingly to what you all saw, and I had to judge on how you'd approach me. You would not allow Sora and Hibiki to approach me, and since Suzumi had knowledge in genjutsu, it was quite obvious you would use her as your main attack, not to mention with Hibiki very obviously defending her, which I tested with the simple needle I threw at her. My second guess was that both Makoto and Ryouta would serve as the main attackers, since both of you like to combine your ninjutsu like I always see, but then again it was also obvious you were they to just serve as a distraction. I guess you can say each of us got the advantage by knowing what the opponent can do, or what each of us were capable of. "

" The next step was to hold her back. My opportunity arose when you set up that insanely huge wall of fire. This created a nice curtain for me to hid underground, and then proceed with my plans, not to mention I was quite safe by choosing to move underground to avoid the blast. I guess it can be said that your fatal flaw in the attack was that you use a rather large distraction. If you had not set up that large fire attack using a ninjutsu combo, then perhaps I'll have a much more difficult time trying to hide."

" Once underground, I was quite safe. All I needed to do was make sure my mirage played nicely to fool the rest of you, and none the wiser. Also, as you deduced, my mirage was unable to move because I can't exactly make a shadow for the mirage. I could actually, but it would be blatantly obvious."

" Wait, sensei, if you were underground since then, how was your image able to even deflect all the kunais I shot at you, or whatever we threw at you for the matter?" Hiroshi asked curiously.

" I created a hole beneath the mirage, and I stayed under it most of the time. I then used very small projectiles to deflect any on coming projectiles from below when I saw them approaching, giving the illusion that I was actually deflecting them in person. If you noticed, I didn't deflect any more weapons after that, since the trick had already been set."

" As you all managed to figure out, I was making tunnels underneath all of you. The trouble with making tunnels using ninjutsu is that there is a limit on where I can actually make them. After all, I have a limited amount of chakra, so there is a limit on how much and how long these tunnels I can make. Also, I had to carefully consider where Suzumi would stand within the next minute, since it was her that I wanted to catch. So, I just set one tunnel 100 meters right in front of my mirage."

" Wait, one tunnel?" Makoto asked.

" As I said, it will be a waste of chakra to set too many tunnels underneath all of you. There was mainly only a need for setting one tunnel, and it was to catch Suzumi. 100 meters if the rough minimum distance for someone of a genin level to pull of genjutsu, and since we were in an open area, it would be more straightforward for her to just approach me than to run several meters away to set her genjutsu. It would save her time and effort by just coming forward, and that's why I merely set one tunnel in front of me."

" What about the previous attack you did?" Ryouta asked.

" A mere diversion to divert your attention, but I did intend to catch all of you with the diversion anyway," Shikamaru replied. They knew he wasn't bragging. His prior attack using rock spires to lengthen his shadow would have ended the match much faster if not for their quick thinking.

" However, I must congratulate you on figuring a solution out of that mess quickly, not to mention using all the strengths in your team. Sora was quick in noticing the properties of my shadow, and Ryouta was quick enough to execute the plan. Using weapons supplied by Hiroshi and using Makoto's immunity to flash bangs to attack when the flash bangs went off was a brilliant tactic. Most people would have been caught already. I applaud your effort."

" Your reactions were too slow when I initially caught Suzumi. You all were too confident that you all had beaten me, also the reason why I only stopped her a fraction of a second before she cast her genjutsu to make you all think she caught me. Not being able to believe what was actually happening cause you to stall in the middle of the fight. I took the time to catch Hiroshi as well, and made them catch Ryouta and Makoto by making them hit you connection all the shadows together, thus catching four of you at once. I purposely caught Makoto and Ryouta because as you surmised from the beginning of the match, the close combat fighters will be of a much more disadvantage in a fight than the ninjutsu fighters."

" Well then, knowing Sora, when backed into a corner, she would just throw logic and caution out of the window and blow out her most devastating technique. But since I was safely hidden somewhere underground, I wasn't worried about her hitting me. I allowed her to hit my mirage, as it has long served it's purpose, and I decided to break the illusion to you guys after using it to catch her. Catching one genin after that was just a piece of cake."

The rest of the looked at Sora, who seemed to be pouting at her sensei's remarks, which sounded slightly insulting.  
" Come now, don't take it that way. To let you know, I don't have the speed to back me up in terms of movement, and if that was me, there was no way I could have avoided that blow just by attempting to avoid it. How's your hand?" Shikamaru asked.

" I'm fine," she replied, still looking sour as she held her hand, suggesting that her arm hurt.

" You hurt yourself?" Hiroshi asked, surprised.

" Using a insanely powerful jutsu without proper precaution and training will cause some damage to the body. It's not to say that Sora can't execute that jutsu, but then again there is a cost for using such a powerful jutsu. Her attack, which utilises shock waves to a tremendous degree is enough to cause serious internal damage which can damage the users hand as well due to the amount of power released," Temari explained.

" Geez, remind me not to piss her off anymore..." Hiroshi mused. The rest of them laughed. Sora's mood lightened up, and she jumped up at him and hung her arm around him, grinning sheepishly.

" Fine then, I'm injured, why don't you carry me back?" Sora asked slyly.

" God, someone help me," Hiroshi groaned.

" Hey, sensei, all that fighting has made us, or at least me, hungry. How about we head down to the nearby restaurant and grab something to eat? Your treat, of course," Sora suggested, still hanging her arm around Hiroshi's neck.

" Hey, you are the ones who lost. Shouldn't you be paying?" Shikamaru objected.

" Come now, you had enough fun shaming us. It's you who should be paying," Hibiki replied.

All of them turned around to face him, looking rather surprised, as if Hibiki was a mute all his life. Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, and then looked pathetically at Temari, who merely shrugged her shoulders in a carefree manner. Looks like there won't be help in that department.

" Alright, fine then. Since you all can't go out on proper missions, I guess I at least owe you something good to eat," Shikamaru sighed, looking around at the nearby shop, wondering where to take them this time. As his back was turned against the genins, all of them, not including Temari, who had headed up to Shikamaru to comfort him, looked at Hibiki. He merely gave a rather mischievous grin and a thumb up. They returned his reply, giving him thumbs up and a wink, acknowledging his methods to get a free lunch.

_Writer's note: My attempt at keeping Shikamaru in-character with his brain in strategy and all that. I have no idea whether he uses Earth elemental manipulation, but I somehow feel that might just be his elemental affinity somehow, based on his character and abilities._

_ I apologise for updating so late as I have been busy with things. Hopefully, I'll have something up regularly as per normal. _


	20. Chapter 19: Playing Defensively

**Chapter 19: Playing Defensively**

Exactly one month had passed since the incident at the canyon, and after the mounting pressure the genins were giving him, Shikamaru had to cave in somehow and allow them to continue on some decent missions. After all, due to the previous incident, several missions had been backed up and now there was an overflow in the mission list. The Sand village could easily send out Chuunins to settle the missions, but they were lacking manpower to perform these tasks, since most of the genins had been withdrawn from more dangerous missions due to Maya's attack. However, after so long with no leads and an overflowing bank of missions, Shikamaru decided to ignore the threat and just go for it. He would just need to be cautious, that's all.

Temari's and his students were very elated to hear that they were getting a mission after so long, and were totally pumped up. Their second mission was a simple escort mission back to the Fire country to a large city near the border, where the merchant needed them to guard him from bandits as he traveled from one city to another. Thankfully, nothing serious happened: no signs of Maya, no signs of rogue shinobi. The mission was completed without a hitch, and since there was a long list of missions to complete, they were issued another mission the instant they got back. The Kazekage was even generous enough to allow them to choose what they wanted.

Hiroshi's meeting with the Kazekage was a weird one. He was quite busy, but Hiroshi spotted him on a couple of occasions when he issued missions to them. He always had this calm serious expression fixed on his passive face, and Hiroshi somehow felt quite in awe at the sight of his green eyes and bright red hair. He was almost always dressed in a red vest, along with other pieces of attire coloured dark red or brown. The strange thing was he looked very much like a kid, and he was quite surprised to learn that he was only 18 years old.

" Wait a second! If he's 18 years old, then this means that he became the Kazekage of this village at the age of 13! How's that even possible? I mean, heck, none of the Kages in the other countries even have them at such a young age," Hiroshi exclaimed once after he was told how old the current Kazekage was.

" That's why we Sand shinobi are awesome," Makoto said, grinning. Sora merely shot him a raspberry.

However, there was another thing that was unusual about the Kazekage. Hiroshi only spotted this once, but there was a time when he saw the Kazekage slinging a large, brown gourd on his back when he was issuing one of their later missions. Hiroshi apparently started staring too hard, because he then noticed.

" Is something the matter?" the Kazekage asked calmly.

" Why is there a large gourd on your back?" Hiroshi asked, pointing to his back.

The Kazekage merely raised his eyebrows, then perhaps for a split second gave a small smile. Closing his eyes, he then clasped his hands together. Hiroshi then gave a yelp as he felt something wrapping around his feet. Looking down, he saw sand moving all over his feet. His eyes opened in surprise as he saw bodies of sand moving all about, up and down.

" The gourd stores the sand in which I can control," the Kazekage replied.

" Why don't you carry it all the time?" Sora piped up.

" Is there need to carry it all the time?" the Kazekage asked.

" Whoa!" Hiroshi yelled as the sand started to wrap around his body.

" Geez, you are scaring the kid, brother," Temari sighed.

" He's your older brother!?" Sora exclaimed loudly.

" Younger brother actually," Temari corrected.

The next thing that they always debated was his name: Gaara of the Desert. Hiroshi found it weird. There was no family name, just Gaara, followed by some title. Asking the Sand genins, they also confessed that they didn't know what Temari's family name was, and had always addressed her as Temari-sensei or Temari-sama, nothing else. Upon being asked, Temari merely chuckled and said " Well, wouldn't you like to know?" then left.

---

Sora yawned loudly as she woke up, as per usual. She was almost always the last to get up from bed, and by the time she did get out, the rest of them were already out. She always blamed it on her now daily midnight trips to the rooftop where Hiroshi and Ryouta would sit and wait for midnight to come, but that wasn't exactly true since she always woke up late even before then. Hiroshi was generally much lazier than her, but he usually got up earlier than her on most occasions.

Getting out, she got herself dressed and cleaned up before heading outside. They had not been issued a mission as of yet so everyone was probably gathered all around the house somewhere, practicing or something. She got out of the house, which were rarely inhabited by Suzumi's family, and attempted to look for the rest of them.

" Hey!" Hiroshi's voice called out.

Sora turned to look at the direction where the voice came from. As she expected, she saw Hiroshi at the usual shed where he would usually mess around with all the puppets and puppet pieces Hibiki had loaned him. However this time, the rest of them were around the area, with Hibiki as per usual perched on the rooftop this time, looking down on the rest of them who had formed a semi-circle around Hiroshi. Also, there was this weird figure next to him.

" What in the blazes is that piece of junk?!" Sora exclaimed, coming up to him.

The figure was made of wood, and stood about 5 feet tall. It was humanoid in shape, but it didn't look like anything that was remotely human at all. It had two pairs of lanky looking arms and very short squat legs. The head was a horrible mix of what looked like a bull and a monkey, making look like some demented-looking human with horns. The body was plain, just like some round cylindrical cylinder. It was wrapped in what looked like a very horrible looking black cape, which looked worthy to be used to wipe the floor with.

" Ah, this is my custom puppet I made from whatever pieces I got from Hibiki. Watch this," Hiroshi said excitedly. Sora spotted several chakra lines attached to his finger that were connected to various parts of the puppet. All of them saw Hiroshi flick his middle finger of his left hand, and all of a sudden, there was this weird rattling sound, and the puppets head seemed to be vibrating.

" Sounds scary…" Suzumi said.

" It's supposed to be scary," Makoto said. " Basic skill in making a puppet intimidating, using sound."

" Looks interesting," Ryouta said, looking fairly impressed.

" Geez, it's just like some rattle snake. Is that all I can do?" Sora replied, sounding bored.

" Of course not, watch," Hiroshi said, snapping his arms around. The puppet raised its hand at Sora, and while the arm was still up, dropped its hand down. There was some twanging sound somewhere, and Sora yelled, feeling a needle prick her skin.

" How dare you! You shot me with a needle!" Sora yelled loudly, pulling the thin metal piece out.

" Hahaha! My intensive training for over two months have finally paid off!" Hiroshi said, grinning.

" It's far from perfect. First off all, you use too much hand movements. To control your puppet properly, you usually make the least amount of movement with your fingers when you move the puppet. Obvious movements will allow the enemy to read your attack patterns, rendering them partially useless since they can see it coming. For a custom made puppet, it looks alright, although you merely stuck other parts together and stung them together to make more of a random puppet than a custom made puppet. In terms of weaponry, the puppet lacks punch," Hibiki replied in his usual dark manner.

" Well, how's it for a comment from Mr. Negative again, especially in the morning…but then again I second his comments," Sora said, rubbing the spot where she had been hit.

" Geez…why do you even bother?" Ryouta sighed.

Makoto stepped up and knocked the puppet a few times with his hands, testing the puppet. " Sounds a bit hollow, probably because you didn't put too many additions into it, so that's why, but the frame feels good, and it has been touched up a bit….wait, did you carve your initials here?" Makoto asked, running his hand over the puppet and coming upon some words carved into the puppets back.

" You know, for a blind person, you sure seem to spot things pretty fast," Hiroshi commented.

" Ah well…there is nothing a little training can't do," Makoto said, grinning.

" How do you do it anyway? I mean, it's got to be pretty difficult to move about, let alone fight," Hiroshi asked.

" You want to know?" Makoto asked, raising his eyebrows.

" Yeah, we have all morning," Hiroshi said, setting his puppet aside. He made it sit down, which looked very funny with its squat legs, and cocked his head to the side.

" Oh well, I guess I can tell," he said, leaning against a nearby stone wall. " Well, first of all, with the lack of sight, I had to play with my other senses. My best bet is by using sound, which was the easiest to use in order to determine what to 'see'. It was due to years of training, and I assure you I didn't learn this overnight. It was hard to do it at first, but I got my ears used to hearing things, sometimes random things: the sound of the wind blowing, tap water running, and the scuttling of a cockroach on the floor. Soon, I could later progress to more detailed stuff: I could estimate how fast the wind was blowing, I could guess how long the bucket will fill up by the amount of water gushing out from the tap, could know that the cockroach was missing one antennae."

The Leaf genins looked at each other, wondering whether the last statement was true or not.

" Of course, I had a lot of help, especially from Hibiki and Suzumi, who told me how things were positioned and their relative statuses as I asked them. The thing is almost everything makes some sound, or vibration. When you walk, when you make your seals, when you jump, and the angle which you move would tell me where exactly you are headed next. Consider it some sort of radar in my head that allows to me see though sound. From your breathing alone, I can tell who you are, whether you are hurt or not and what you ate for breakfast this morning. Alright, the last statement is due to smell, which I'm pretty good at as well."

Hiroshi then raised his hand and showed him three fingers.

" How many fingers am I holding up?" Hiroshi asked.

Makoto pondered for a while, frowning slightly. " I'm not exactly sure, but this I can say for sure: you are holding up your right hand, and you are not showing me none of your fingers or all of them…I'll venture three."

" Pretty good for a guess," Hiroshi muttered.

" There are other things that I can use sound to find out," Makoto explained.

" Sure…like how could you give a perfect description of my body?" Sora asked.

" Using this," Makoto said, giving out a whistle, except there was no sound coming out. Hiroshi figured there was, but at a level where they could not hear it. Sora raised her eyebrows, then asked " What? Using frequency waves?"

" Good guess. Using frequency waves I emit, my ears can pick them up, and whatever these waves bounce back off I can see them as they are. More like the echoes bats use," Makoto said.

" Looks like you are pretty proficient in the use of Sound jutsus, just like me," Sora chuckled.

" Yes, except that I use them to guide myself, not for offensive purposes," Makoto replied.

" But then, how the heck do see colour?" Hiroshi asked.

At that precise moment, Ryouta was quick to spot Hibiki's and Suzumi's expressions, and even though he could not figure out why, it was obvious they didn't seem to like the direction of where this conversation was going somehow.

" Ah, that's a tricky one. First of all, do you think I'm blind?" Makoto asked.

" Nope, if you can ask us such a question," Sora replied.

For his reply, Makoto merely shifted his forehead protector upwards, pushing it to his forehead. What they saw was pretty astounding and scary at the same time.

Makoto's eyes looked around at all of them. His iris was coloured bright red, and the surrounding area sickly yellow. Dark veins and arteries were visible though his eyes, as if it were partially permeable to light, like some cloudy glass ball. Hiroshi had to admit that his eyes were very scary, and from the sight of his very sickly looking eyes, Hiroshi somehow felt very sick at the moment. Perhaps it was a bad question to ask Makoto to show him his eyes. The irises twirled around, and face Hiroshi, who twitched slightly.

" Sorry about that," Makoto apologized, pulling his headband over his face. " My eyes can still see, except that it's pretty sensitive to light, so I rarely use them. Also, for other purposes as well, as you can see."

" Oh…how did you…" Hiroshi started.

Ryouta had apparently seen enough. Hibiki and Suzumi were now silently hoping that this conversation would end now, and it was obvious from the looks of what could only be described as fear on their faces.

" Hey, our senseis have arrived," Ryouta replied quickly, interrupting Hiroshi.

" Really?" Sora asked, oblivious to what was happening. Suzumi breathed a sigh of relief.

" I think…" Ryouta added after a while.

" I'll go check," Makoto said, jumping off and going away. After a while, Hibiki jumped down from the rooftop and talked to them in a dark tone.

" Don't ever ask how he got those eyes, nor should you ask about his parents. Those topics are taboo, understand?" Hibiki warned darkly, making Hiroshi and Sora wonder what the hell were they talking about.

-

Apparently Makoto had some sort of short term memory, or he didn't press upon the subject. Their senseis indeed had arrived, along with information for their new mission, and all of them were eager to attempt a new mission at hand. Hiroshi had after thoughts on seeing Makoto's true face, and he felt a bit sick. Perhaps something that involved his past, and his parents, from what he could gather from Hibiki's warning. As promised, none of them pressed the subject, and Makoto seemed to have ignored it or forgotten.

" Sensei, it has to be a C-class mission minimum, or else I will not accept it," Sora said enthusiastically, pointing her finger at Shikamaru, who looked at her wirily.

" Oh man, what is wrong with you? I have to swear you sound like a friend of mine who is always on a high," Shikamaru said, rolling out a scroll he had.

" Who's your friend?" Sora asked.

" Never you mind," he replied.

" This time, our mission is to guard a small village due north where the forest plantations of our country is located. We have received word that a bunch of bandit rogues plan to raid the village in a couple of day's time, and even though everyone has evacuated the place, we still would like to avoid any damage that would be inflicted upon the village. Our goal is to stop the bandits and protect the village from coming to any harm, or protecting public property, so to speak. Simple," Temari replied, grinning at them. " Since all of you have been pretty good so far, we'll let you helm the mission."

" What?" Ryouta asked.

" The six of you will take control of the mission. We will be there to act like spectators, or better yet, assume we are helpless villagers and it's your job to protect us from the rogues. We won't be helping in this mission, unless things get out of hand, which hopefully shouldn't," Temari said.

" Is this some sort of test?" Suzumi asked.

" Perhaps…we have two days, and reaching the village will take 6 hours at full speed. Get yourselves ready now," Shikamaru said, tossing the mission scroll towards Makoto, who caught it.

---

" Geez, we never had to rush for a mission before," Sora said.

" I thought you would be thrilled," Suzumi replied.

" I am…I'd like being informed in advance," Sora replied.

" Sora, we are shinobis. We are to be ready to be mobilized at any second when they give the order. You are pretty slack, considering the circumstances," Ryouta replied as all of them headed north. They had been moving for several hours now, and they could see the outline of the village somewhere at the distance.

" Geez, cut me some slack, will you?" Sora replied. The rest of them chuckled.

" Well, we are here," Shikamaru said.

-

All of them arrived at the village. Since it was some distance from the body of desert that usually covered most of the wind country, there was a number of greenery around, the village was backed along a small knoll and had a forest somewhere to the west of it. As they had said, the villagers had evacuated the place, so there was no one there. It was just a simple farming village, with houses numbering in about 50 of them scattered all around the place.

" We are supposed to hold off a bunch of bandits here?" Sora asked, looking around at the bland and boring place.

" Well, sort of," Shikamaru said, plopping himself down on a nearby fence, and Temari followed suit, sitting next to him. The rest of them stared at him for a while, before he said " I did say I'm leaving this in your hands. Why are you all standing there like a bunch of idiots?"

" You are really serious?" Hiroshi asked.

" We just want to gauge your ability to cooperate with one another, work effectively as a team and to see how you all plan and carry out a situation given to you. In short, to see if you are capable of handling things without our help," Shikamaru replied. " Yes, consider this some sort of real-life test."

" Damn right, we will do this splendidly without your help!" Sora replied, feeling riled up by the comment.

" Alright, we don't have time to sit around and twiddle our thumbs the whole day. I say we should start immediately," Ryouta replied, seeing both their senseis ignoring them at the moment, as they were now talking to each other in hushed voices to one another, too soft for his ears to pick up.

" Wait, before we decide on anything, how about we decide on a leader?" Suzumi suggested.

" A leader?" Hiroshi mused.

" Yes, every team has at least a leader whom we follow orders, if not we will start doing things haphazardly. We should decide on a leader to organize ourselves," Suzumi replied.

" That's a brilliant suggestion. I nominate Ryouta," Makoto replied.

" I was about to nominate you," Ryouta replied, sighing.

" Geez, I'm sure we are both pretty capable, but I think a leader with a good pair of eyes would be much better than one without, no?" Makoto asked. The rest of them were not too sure about whether that was meant as a sarcastic joke, or that he was making some reference to the eyes he had.

" I second that," Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Excellent. How about a vote? Who wants Ryouta as our leader?" Makoto asked, raising his own hand. It was quickly followed by Hiroshi and Suzumi. Sora merely pouted and folded her arms while Hibiki didn't do anything but look at them with a funny expression. " First time I ever see you two agree on something."

" Bah," Sora replied, raising her hand as well. Hiroshi knew Sora's sort-of rivalry between Ryouta, and that was one of the reasons she didn't vote for him, but apparently having the same agreement with Hibiki was far worse than voting for him.

" It's decided on a majority vote that you shall be our commanding officer," Makoto said heartily.

" On the condition that you are second-in-command," Ryouta said.

" I have no problems with that," Makoto said, grinning.

-

All of them gathered at the middle of the village, preparing for their plan. Ryouta had asked Makoto to use his sonic ability to map out the entire area of the village using his radar-like skill. Makoto headed for the middle of the village and clapped his hands together, kneeling on the ground. It took him several minutes, but then, given a pencil and a scroll from Hiroshi, he started to draw a detailed map of the area, and with some help, map out the surrounding area using sound alone. _If he wasn't my ally, I'd say he was pretty scary,_ Hiroshi thought as Makoto started to draw out a map without even looking at it.

Soon enough, he was done, and they took a good look at it. The east side of the village was backed up against a high cliff wall, and towards the west was the main highway that connected the village to the main routes in the country. There was a large plain on the south, and heading north would be closing in on the Stone country's border, where a thick forest was situated. Any attack will have to come from the west or south or north of the village, where the area was open. The village was pretty much open, with 50 houses spread all around with small farms placed here and there.

" Excellent work," Ryouta said. Makoto merely scratched his head, grinning sheepishly.

" What now?" Hiroshi asked.

" Hmm, I'd figure that we might need some information," Ryouta replied.

" Information? On what?" Sora asked.

Ryouta got up and started strolling towards the place where Shikamaru and Temari were. Both of them looked up curiously at him when he approached.

" Let's assume that the Kazekage-sama entrusted this mission to us. I'm sure that he gave you some details on the mission itself, or that you have asked them. As such, I will need to ask some questions pertaining to this mission, which you can answer to your discretion," Ryouta said as the rest of them walked up behind him.

" Go ahead," Shikamaru said, a cigarette in his mouth.

" How many bandits are we up against?" Ryouta asked.

" 30 bandits minimum. We have no estimate on the maximum number, but it should not be above 50," Shikamaru answered.

" Do we have any idea how armed they are?" Ryouta asked.

" Mostly simple bladed weapons, and perhaps some shinobi tools they somehow managed to steal, but nothing extremely serious since they aren't trained in the arts of the shinobi," Temari answered this time.

" How did the information of them raiding this village come about?" Makoto asked.

" Good question. Two chunnins came across the bandit camp some time ago, and managed to steal some plans out from their main tent. This would be one of their raiding places they would hit next, and a patrol report from the north states that there were a number of movements of people in the north," Shikamaru answered.

" Why wasn't a pre-emptive strike ordered? I mean, heck, couldn't we just send a small platoon and just finish them off?" Hiroshi asked. " After all, we do know where the camp is, and the amount of people involved."

" That, Hiroshi, is a very brilliant question," Shikamaru replied, blowing out a column of smoke. " The bandits are now currently in the Stone country."

All of them widened their eyes as they heard the answer. Ryouta frowned, trying to contemplate on the statement.

" Well, that would make sense. We do have a lot of interaction between our borders as there is a line between where exactly our country is located and whether or not it is possible to move through and fro a certain area. If the bandits are in the Stone country, then we can't order a strike against them since that would risk Rock-nins intervening with us, which will be troublesome," Ryouta said.

" Wouldn't the Stone country want to bother about bandits in their country?" Hiroshi asked.

" Why bother an enemy of an enemy?" Hibiki mused. The rest of them turned and look at him. That was the only input he had given all day.

" Eh?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" No, you stupid fool, it makes sense. I mean, think about it. Not all bandits are stupid. This is a tactic they use," Sora replied.

" Tactic?" Suzumi asked.

" It should be obvious that the bandits know they can't possibly go up against skilled shinobis, especially of the jounin class. They would be wiped clean by our skills. So, they employ a tactic which is advantageous to them as well. I wonder why I didn't think of this before, but don't you realize a lot of bandit raids usually happen at the border?" Sora asked.

" Why?" Hiroshi asked.

" Because it's safer that way," Ryouta replied.

" Huh?"

" Exactly!" Sora exclaimed. " Look, having heavy raiding activities will cause us to step in. When powerful shinobi are sent to deal with these bandits, they don't stand a chance against us, unless they hide in another country. Take this for example: They raid one of our villages, then run off to the Stone country border nearby and cross it. As long as they stay in the Stone country, we can't really interfere with the without risking the Rock-nins interfering with us."

" Then, in the meantime, since the bandits are literally doing the Stone country a favour by disrupting the economy of our country by such actions, they won't bother dealing with these bandits. So, as long as the bandits don't disturb any of the nearby Stone villages, the Stone country will not bother with them disturbing other countries," Suzumi concluded.

" Excellent deductions," Shikamaru replied, grinning.

" Geez, I should be made leader!" Sora exclaimed.

" Good deduction work, my third in command," Ryouta said, breaking into a very hilarious grin.

" Screw you! Don't you dare mock me!" Sora exclaimed.

" So, we know now that the bandits will be heading in north, from the forest area. This will prove to be advantageous to us is this encounter," Ryouta said.

" Hmm? How so?" Hiroshi asked.

" Come now, I have a plan in mind," Ryouta said, waving a hand to say thanks to his sensei before leaving. Shikamaru and Temari merely looked at them leaving, and when he was positive that they were out of earshot, he said " Guess I didn't have to worry too much about them."


	21. Chapter 20: Ryouta's Plan

**Chapter 20: Ryouta's Plan**

" Now, since the bandits will be coming through the north area, through the forest. This will be to our advantage. The forest terrain would make it difficult from them to move through, so we must lure them into going through the forest. However, there might be a chance that they would by-pass the forest, but if they plan to raid this village in about 40 hours time, they can't circle around too much the forest to flank us on the other sides," Ryouta said as they were all gather in their base.

The base was merely a makeshift one they decided upon setting up in a rather empty hut in the middle of the village. This would be the place they would gather and discuss stuff, or their main command center, so to speak.

" Go on," Sora mused.

" The only way they can flank us and avoid raiding the village with the least amount of trouble would be to head west before heading south," Ryouta said, pointing his finger on the map. " Going east would be troublesome, since they would have to bypass this cliff face, and it would take too long. We can assume that they are raiding this village because they are running out of supplies, and thus, a farming village is targeted to raid for food stores."

" There isn't much food stores here, from what we have seen," Hiroshi commented.

" Isn't much, but there still is," Ryouta replied. Hiroshi merely shrugged his shoulders.

" This is what we will do. We will set up traps along the west side forest, not subtle ones, but obvious ones. If possible, we will herd them towards us, avoiding them from taking the west side here they can flank us from the highway. Coming down from the south would be too much trouble for them, as they can't travel at our speed, so we don't need to worry about the rear. Now, let's start this."

" Makoto, I need you to use your widest sonic range. I want you to give as much detail as you can about possible routes that the bandits will be using through the forest, and which path they will be taking. Map out a detail area, so we can estimate where they will approach us. Setting traps will be left to us, since you can't…well, see," Ryouta replied.

" Got it," Makoto answered.

" Sora, you will be printing explosive tags," Ryouta replied.

" What the hell?"

" These," Ryouta said, pulling out an explosive tag from his shinobi pack. " This is a fake. I want you to scrounge up as much paper and ink you can find in this village, and make as many fake copies as you can. There is no blatant need for detail. Bandits know what an explosive tag is, but they don't really know how the details about it."

Sora pouted and merely grunted.

" The rest of us will head off westward to set up some traps to lure them to attack on this side," Ryouta replied, standing up. " Alright, let's go people!"

Ryouta, Hiroshi, Suzumi and Hibiki all headed out towards the village, going into the forest and heading west. Ryouta wanted to make a rough estimate on where they were limited to go up to. It didn't take them long.

---

Not too far away, just about a kilometer, was a wide river which was flowing pretty rapidly. Hiroshi stood at the edge, watching the rapid flow of water rushing down the river. Ryouta took out a map and gave a look.  
" By any luck, they shouldn't be crossing this river, so this is as far as they will travel to enter the village. If they were heading for a wide range of attack, this will be their range. What do you think about it, Hiroshi, Hibiki?" Ryouta asked.

" Eh? What, me?" Hiroshi asked, surprised Ryouta was consulting him.

" Both of you are much more adapt at using traps, especially Hiroshi. How do you think we should deploy ours traps?" Ryouta replied, grinning at both of them.

Hibiki and Hiroshi looked at each other, not too sure what to say. There was an awkward silence for a while, but Hibiki took a deep breath and broke it after a while.

" You know, I was thinking we should just allow them to come in from the west side, if they take this route, that is," he replied.

" Why is that?" Ryouta asked curiously.

" An extra kilometer trek in the jungle will wear them off significantly, and will be an added advantage up us. To ease the trouble of them entering, we will set up more explosive traps on the west side as a deterrent. If they are stupid enough to enter from this side, then they are stupid enough to get blown to bits. We will forgo using other explosive notes in other areas and focus them on the west side. After all, the forest can do with traps that don't involve explosive notes," Hibiki answered.

" Good point…do you have anything to add, Hiroshi?" Ryouta asked.

" Um…well, we should set some traps up here anyway, not much as a deterrent but more to lure them towards the east side…I mean, north side of the village. It shouldn't take too long…hmm…" Hiroshi mused.

" What is it?" Suzumi asked.

" Is it just me, or do you all think that it will rain tomorrow, or the day after?" Hiroshi asked.

All four genins looked skywards into the sky. There were a number of clouds in the sky, but nothing really significant to show that it would rain tomorrow. Being in a forest area made it much more prone to raining. Ryouta took a sniff in the air, trying to test the humidity of the place.

" Would it make a difference whether it rains or not?" Suzumi asked.

" Definitely. Explosive tags work better when they are dry," Hibiki answered.

" If so, then setting the explosive tags over an open area, since the highway side is pretty open without cover will render the explosive tags 50 percent useless…at least," Hiroshi replied.

" How do we deal with that?" Suzumi asked.

" Well, I guess we could set them underneath the ground," Hiroshi replied.

" Underground?"

" Something like a landmine," Hiroshi replied.

" How would we set that off? It will be difficult to trigger it of when the bandits arrive in the vicinity," Hibiki replied.

" We trigger it manually," Hiroshi replied. Hibiki merely shrugged.

" Very well, we'll ignore this area for the moment and leave Hiroshi to deal with it later. We'll go with Hibki's suggestion on letting them through this area for the moment. Now, go about and mark down the entire area so we can map out a reference in where they can approach us," Ryouta replied.

---

" Looks like their back," Makoto replied. Sora turned around to see them return into the hut they were in. The rest of them spotted Sora on the floor with rectangular pieces of paper sprawled all over the place, a paintbrush in her hands and several ink bottles around here. She had been making some good progress with the fake explosive tags she was working on.

" Looks like you were pretty busy while we were gone," Ryouta commented.

" Hell yes! You better have a damn good reason for this," Sora demanded.

" Of course I do. We need to keep them off the south side, and these fake explosive traps will do the trick. We'll obviously stick them on the south side of the village, and we'll leave it up to them to decided whether or not they are fake or not," Ryouta replied. " Right, for a new set of things to do: Hiroshi, I need you to go north to the forest area and set a number of traps there. This will weaken their forces before they siege the village. I'm going to discuss with Makoto on our defense plan, and I'll check on you later. Pick someone to go along with you. The remaining person can stay and help Sora with the tags. When done, stick them up on the south side of the village."

Hiroshi looked around. He had two choices: Either Suzumi or Hibiki. The choice was pretty obvious.

---

Hiroshi walked into the forest, looking at his surroundings. Carefully observing them, he then took out a scroll from his pack. Unrolling the scroll, he bit his thumb and ran his finger over the scroll. Charging chakra into the scroll, he unsealed all the items inside the scroll. A sizable amount of equipment appeared, from wires to small blades to paint.

" Are we setting up our traps here?" Suzumi asked.

" We sure are. We will be covering a wide area, so let's get to work, shall we?" Hiroshi asked.

" Hmm, wouldn't it be easier to set traps with the others?" Suzumi asked.

" Well, perhaps it's much more convenient for less people to do it. After all, we wouldn't want to trigger the traps ourselves with too many people around the place, won't we?" Hiroshi asked.

" Well, you have a point," Suzumi said.

Hiroshi took up a length of metal wire and hoisted himself up a tree, with the help of his weapon launcher. Reaching the top, he started to string lines around the trees. Suzumi tossed him a small pack when asked, and he caught it deftly when thrown to him. He attached them properly to the tree and then leaped down, dragging one end of the metal wire with him. Between a small path between two trees, he set up a line between two trees, somewhere along ankle length. He opened up a small bottle and taking out some of the brown powder it contain, blew it gently over the wire. Suzumi looked surprised as the wire seem to disappear in front of her eyes.

" Powder mixed with some special pigment. It allows the wire to be much more difficult to see," Hiroshi said, pointing his hand to something apparently invisible. Suzumi could barely see the wire, her sight guided by the fact that there was a slight shadow underneath it. " It's not perfect, but I doubt these bandits of their level will notice it."

" Hmm, you are pretty good," Suzumi praised.

" Gee, it's just setting up a trap," Hiroshi replied.

" Hmph, you make me sound dumb," Suzmi said, pouting.

" Uh…hey, I..er…didn't mean it that way," Hiroshi replied, feeling dumbfounded.

Suzumi started giggling all of a sudden. " I was just joking…" Suzumi said, grinning.

" Uh…yeah…I knew that…" Hiroshi said, scratching his head.

" So, what next?"

---

" So, I believe they will only pass through this areas if they are heading down from the north. It shouldn't be too difficult to handle. We will just focus our attacks on these spots," Makoto said, pointing on a much more detailed map, showing Ryouta areas he had marked out and putting crosses on them " And we will be just fine."

" Yes, I agree on that," Ryouta said, turning around to see Sora and Hibiki return to the hut.

" We are done sticking the fakes on the south side of the village. I'm bored now. Why don't we go check on Hiroshi and Suzumi?" Sora suggested in a bored tone. Ryouta merely sighed.

" Hiroshi is now setting his traps. We are not sure what traps he had set, or how dangerous they could be. Going there now without prior knowledge of the traps he had set might cause problems, since you might set off one of his traps by mistake. Hiroshi excels in this field, don't you remember? He has a pretty crafty mind, and I doubt you can pass all his traps without setting more than half of them off," Ryouta replied.

" Yeah, yeah…I get that," Sora said sarcastically, jumping down on a chair and rocking it back and forth on two legs, obviously displeased with the lack of activity. However, Hiroshi returned shortly, with Suzumi in tow.

" Ah, the rest of you are back. Now, we can discuss our battle plan," Ryouta said.

" I've been waiting for this already," Sora exclaimed, jumping off her chair.

Ryouta spread out the map of the village which Makoto had expertly drawn, giving all the details even they would have missed, which was remarkable for a blind guy who did this while sitting in the middle of a hut, just listening to sound waves all over the place. They got around in a circle, with Hibiki, out of habit, hanging off the ceiling some distance away. Hiroshi felt uncomfortable with this. Hibiki had obviously warmed up to them much more when they had initially arrived, but he still held some reservations against the Leaf genins, which was obvious with his speech and actions, like now.

" Alright, I expect the bandits to hit us from the north side of this village. Our battle plan will be simple…"

" Suzumi, since you are good with genjutsu, we shall use that to our advantage. You will be located in the middle of the forest here, and with your genjutsu abilities, we can catch them by numbers easily, since your genjutsu has a large area of effect. I've marked out this place where you will be located. Sora, I will have to trouble you to keep Suzumi company and to ensure that nothing happens to her, or in other words, you will be guarding her while she does her genjutsu attacks. Got that? When she's done trapping them and upon her signal, you can go in and take the bandits out," Ryouta said.

" I'll do my best…" Suzumi said nodding.

" Sounds like fun," Sora said, cracking her knuckles.

" Makoto and I will be situated in the north of the village, before the forest. Any bandits that come in through the north that Suzumi is unable to capture will be dealt by us. Our ninjutsu combos will wipe them out easily," Ryouta said, looking at Makoto, who merely gave him a grin.

" Hiroshi, Hibiki, I will have to trouble you two in guarding the east side, where the village leads to the highway. I don't expect an attack from this side, but I cannot take any chances. As Hiroshi said, if by any chance it rains tomorrow, we will have to set the explosive notes off manually, so Hiroshi will be much better suited guarding that side. Hibiki will back him up. Any qualms?" Ryouta asked.

" None whatsoever," Hiroshi said, very impressed with Ryouta's leadership abilities and planning. Hibiki merely shrugged, a reply which everyone assumed was an agreement to Ryouta's plan.

" Well, I guess we are done for now…let's go have some fun, shall we?" Ryouta asked, grinning.

---

The next hour was spent trying to work out their dinner, in which they entered the nearby woods to gather food and hunt down animals for dinner. Sora was pretty enthusiastic about the hunt, and pairing up with Hibiki, managed to hunt down a boar, three rabbits, two snakes, three birds and several frogs and lizards. Hiroshi then later complained that if they were that enthusiastic in catching their prey, they should have told him that earlier to save him the trouble of setting up traps to catch their dinner.

With Suzumi's knowledge in herbs, they managed to gather some spices along with some other food they could gather in the forest, like fruits, roots and edible plant components. Gathering everything, they took it back, and as per usual, Hiroshi was the one in-charge of cooking again. They roasted the boar over a large fire, coated with a nice mix of herbs and spices they found, and Hiroshi also managed to cook up a stew of animal meat and plant tubers and stems with whatever animals they could find. Sora and Ryouta was a bit worried when Hiroshi added snake meat into the stew.

" Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. Heck, you can even eat it raw," Hibiki said, holding up one of the snakes he had skinned for Hiroshi. As if to prove a point, he held the head of the snake in one hand and bit upon its neck, and with a rendering tear, ran his teeth along the dead snake's body, ripping off the flesh, spraying blood everywhere as if he were milking a sugarcane stem. The sight of him being bloody all over while eating a raw snake was a bit sickening, but he didn't mind.

Their senseis only joined in when dinner was prepared, and had generous helpings of roasted boar meat and thick stew. There was a delicious aroma that floated around the air all around them, filling up the air with a narcotic smell of sorts.

" Geez, this is the life," Sora sighed contentedly, dropping on the floor after she had finished up what was left of the roasted meat, even sucking the bones dry. Hiroshi, as always, was surprised at her appetite. She could eat a hell of a lot when she wanted to. He wouldn't be surprised if she was one of the very few girls who don't go on diets.

Night dawned upon them, and soon enough, all of them started to feel drowsy, ready to fall asleep.

" What's that?" Ryouta asked.

" A part of a puppet I'm working on," Hiroshi said, holding up the broken arm of a puppet under the bright moonlight to show Ryouta what it was. He was now trying to fix it up with some of the tools he had brought along, adding bolts and nuts together to fix the arm. It had several parts sprawled all over the place.

They heard a loud snore behind them. Sora had joined them once more on their midnight wait, but since she had eaten so much previously, most of her blood was now sent to her gut, depriving her brain of enough oxygen to stay awake. She was fast asleep, snoring loudly on top of the hut where they waited for midnight to pass, an obsession that Ryouta couldn't seem to put down and something that puzzled Hiroshi all the time.

" Well, what can you do with it?" Ryouta asked.

As a reply, Hiroshi attached several chakra strings to the puppet arm. He then levitated it several feet in the air, the chakra lines burning blue with his chakra to hold the thing in place. Flicking several fingers, he made the arm detach some of its fingers, which broke up into smaller parts, all floating in the air, connected by chakra lines. He wiggled his hands, and the joints all floated all around in the air.

" Making progress, are we?" Hibiki asked.

" Hey, when did you come up?" Hiroshi exclaimed, turning around to see Hibiki right behind him.

" About two minutes ago," Ryouta answered.

" And you didn't tell me?"

" I figured you already knew,"

" Hmph, call yourself a shinobi. You can't even sense my presence, how would you sense the presence of the enemy, eh?" Hibiki asked, smirking.

" Now, now, your 'windwalking' abilities don't make it easy for people to detect you. After all, that's what it basically wants to achieve. If Hiroshi can detect you so easily while you use that skill, I'd say you are pretty weak, don't you agree?" Makoto asked, stepping up behind him, closely followed by Suzumi, who stood behind them, wrapped in her blanket.

" ..Somehow, I feel insulted in some way…" Hiroshi mused.

" Don't take it that way…" Makoto said, laughing heartily. " Besides, what are all three of you doing out here so late on top of the hut?"

" Waiting for midnight," Ryouta answered.

" Eh?" Suzumi replied.

" Please don't mind Ryouta, but this is an obsession of his where he would like to wait for midnight to come, at exactly 12 o'clock. I have no idea why, but he likes waiting for this time. It's like him taking his drug or something," Hiroshi answered. The Sand genins looked at each other curiously, but were unsure what to say.

" How about we join you?" Makoto asked.

" Feel free to. The more, the merrier," Ryouta said, grinning happily, glad to have more company. Sora was still out cold, not aware of the presence of more people. Hibiki purposely sat next to her and prodded her once in a while with the end of his spear.

They all sat down silently on the roof, waiting.

" Um, it's a bit too quiet, don't you all think?" Suzumi asked.

" Well, I'm all in the mood to just wait, but please don't refrain yourselves to just sitting there quietly. You are all allowed to talk," Ryouta invited. However, none of them really replied.

" Well, I'll start a conversation. What was the reason why the three of you wanted to become shinobi?" Hiroshi asked, still fiddling with his puppet. The rest of the kept quiet for a while. It was Suzumi who spoke first.

" Well, my family came from a long line of shinobi who used puppets, and so I guess it was more of an obligation for me to become one. I guess that's my reason…I know, sounds stupid…an obligation to do something…" Suzumi replied awkwardly.

" Yet, it's still your choice, isn't it?" Ryouta asked.

" Eh?" Suzumi exclaimed.

" Becoming a shinobi may have been an obligation for you, not a choice, but then again, accepting the obligation yourself was a choice, so in a way, you agreed on being a shinobi, and that was your choice alone. You aren't that bad of a shinobi, Suzumi, and I expect you to become a fine kunochi one day, so stop acting like you are the weakest shinobi here," Ryouta said.

" Agreed," Sora said sleepily. Hibiki looked at her curiously, then continued prodding her with his spear. She didn't budge however, even though she was quite awake, listening to their conversation.

" Skill alone doesn't justify ones strength. Do you truly think I'm more skillful than you are? Perhaps, but then I don't think so. I believe a shinobi is strong only when they hold true to their beliefs, a one true belief that one holds dear," Ryouta replied.

" What is your belief, Ryouta?" Suzumi asked.

" You all are," he said, grinning that them. The rest of them were not too sure what to make of it, but Hiroshi got the gist of it somehow. " Oh, look, it's already past midnight, and I didn't notice it at all. I must be getting weaker…" he continued, laughing.

They didn't sleep early that night. They spend a good three hours talking to one another on top of the roof of the hut, the shiny bright crescent moon high above their heads, illuminating their bodies down below as they chatted throughout the night.


	22. Chapter 21: The Fight Begins

**Chapter 21: The Fight Begins**

Dawn came upon them, and as the genins woke up in their hut, they were greeted by the bright rays of the sun breaking into the hut. Hiroshi yawned sleepily, rubbing his eyes as he got up. Looking around, he noticed that Ryouta and Makoto were already up, and missing from the place. The two of them always went in a pair all the time. Hiroshi figured that people of the similar caliber should stick together.

" Ah, you are up already," Suzumi replied, looking cheerful. Sora was still fast asleep, and with nothing better to do at the moment, Hibiki decided to start prodding her face with the blunt end of his spear just to annoy her.

" Yeah..." Hiroshi said sleepily. His nose was suddenly greeted with a strong, pungent smell. He noticed Suzumi holding out a cup to him, smiling sweetly.

" Here, I made some coffee for everyone. It should keep you awake," Suzumi said.

" Oh...alright..." Hiroshi mused, taking the cup, not really having a sound mind in taking in his surroundings. He then later realised as he sipped the coffee that since he was the group's cook, he needed to make breakfast for the rest of them. It was still pretty early, or so he figured, so he thought that he had plenty of time to deal with breakfast later.

He got out of bed, the lack of sleep and having stayed up all night taking his its toll. He needed a second round of strong coffee to make him feel vaguely awake. Stumbling out of the hut, he spotted Makoto and Ryouta situated on the roof nearby. Deciding not to disturb them, he went off to the nearby bathroom, which looked more like some makeshift square box fixed in the middle of the village. He quickly took his bath, the chilling cold water of the morning waking him up immensely. He got himself ready, and dressed himself in a new set of clothes he had brought along, equipping his shinobi equipment along with him.

He then proceeded to deal with making breakfast. He managed to steal some rations of flour and sugar from the stores in the village, and mixing them with water, made some basic dough. Using coal and two rectangular pans on top of each other, he baked the dough in the makeshift oven and they had some simple bread to eat. Scrounging the forest allowed him to find some berries, in which he mixed them together to make some sort of jam for them to spread with his bread.

" This is surprisingly good for something so simple," Sora said, the smell of baked bread was irresistible to her nostrils, and she just had to wake up to eat something. Hiroshi had to go off and bake her a second batch due to her appetite.

The day was pretty quiet, since they were quite finished with their preparations. Hiroshi spotted Ryouta circling the village multiple times, as if he were on patrol duty, but he didn't ask any of them to help him out. Makoto was always seated cross-legged on top of a hut, keeping to himself. Hiroshi figured he was to keep an eye on the bandits, since he could 'hear' them better than they could.

Most of the morning was spent wasting them doing nothing. Two hours was wasted with Suzumi going through all her medical equipment, and with Hiroshi and Sora looking avidly at all the bottles, needles and the pills she had, and an account on her training with one of the medic-nins she knew in her village. Sora suggested that they sharpen their weapons, which she then gave up bothering about it after she was halfway through Hiroshi's weapon collection.

Sora wanted to train a little to waste the time, and even Hibiki agreed with her to that statement. However, Ryouta was against that idea, saying that they would be wasting their energy doing that. Hiroshi took out his puppet collection and started to fiddle with it for a while. It was kind of irritating to wait for something to arrive, although Hiroshi figured that was a very sadistic way of thinking. They were bored out of their minds because the bandits they were supposed to trash were not here yet.

However, sometime after noon, Makoto spoke to them, and as he said three simple words, they felt very elated.

" They are here."

---

" Alright, everyone to their stations. Sora, Suzumi, head north to the forest and stay hidden. Know your place, Sora. If you can't handle the load they throw at you two, remember to back off, alright?" Ryouta reminded. Sora gave a triumphant yell, and after attaching her wireless radio, she ran off towards the northern forest, with Suzumi following her close-by.

" Hibiki, Hiroshi, go west and set up your equipments there. Don't shift your position unless I tell you to," Ryouta replied. Both of the guys nodded and headed west, with Hibiki taking out his spear from his back.

As Hiroshi ran past towards the west side of the forest, he spotted Shikamaru and Temari seated by the corner of a house, their arms folded and looking at their actions passively. He gave a thumbs up and a wink at him, and Hiroshi returned his greeting with a smile, before heading off.

Shikamaru gave a loud yawn, before saying " I guess this will be one boring mission..." he commented.

" Why is that?" Temari asked.

" I'm not doing anything...that's why," he replied, leaning back and lying down on the grassy floor. Temari looked at him curiously, then followed suit.

A rumble could be heard some distance away. Makoto and Ryouta looked up, and Ryouta could see several clouds gathering some distance away. The dark clouds were heading down towards them from the north.

" Tch, guess Hiroshi was right...looks like it's going to rain," Ryouta replied.

-

" Hahaha, I've been waiting for this moment. Those lousy losers sure took their time. Come, Suzumi, let's get things started!" Sora exclaimed, jumping over the fence on the north side of the village. She was feeling pumped up, ready to take on the world. She slipped on a pair of fingerless gloves and cracked her knuckles eagerly. Suzumi merely obediently followed her from behind.

Sora moved quickly into the forest for several meters. Hiroshi had already given her information on how deep she could enter before encountering his traps. Moving like she knew it by heart, she reached a specific tree and jumped up, kicking the sides of the branches to propel herself upwards. Suzumi quickly followed, skilled enough in chakra control to merely walk up the branches. Sora rested upon one of the branches in the middle, and Suzumi made it up to one of the branches opposite her.

" Um, so, how do we approach?" Suzumi asked.

" Well, do your genjutsu stuff. I'll deal with whatever leftovers there are," Sora replied, winking. Suzumi nodded and knelt down on the branch, preparing herself.

-

Hiroshi and Hibiki reached the edge of the western side of the village, which was as expected, empty. Clouds had now started to gather, and a storm was approaching, not that it will matter much. Hiroshi decided to start laying his traps. However, as he took a step forward, Hibiki immediately grabbed his shoulders.

" What's the matter?" Hiroshi asked.

" Don't bother with the traps," Hibiki replied.

" What?!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" I said don't bother setting them up," Hibiki repeated himself.

" But Ryouta said..."

" Let's forget Ryouta for a minute, alright? We are probably not going to get any sort of action on this side of the field, and as much as I'd like to commend Ryouta on being an efficient leader, I hate what I've been alloted to do right now, sit here waiting for some bunch of bandits that might not come. So please, forget the traps and let be beat something up then watch them blow up in a needless fashion," Hibiki asked.

Hiroshi wasn't too sure whether he wanted to argue with Hibiki or not. Common sense told him Ryouta was doing what was best for the team, but common sense also told him Hibiki is a bit pissed right now, and he'd rather enjoy beating up a couple of bandits for the fun of it. Also, Hiroshi felt that if he was going to resist any further, Hibiki might just pull that 'you owe me since I let you learn puppetry' crap somehow, so he decided not to go against him anyway.

" You make a point. Don't steal all of them, alright? Leave some for me," Hiroshi said in an attempt to curry some favour from Hibiki.

Hibiki grinned at him, and while it was his usual dark sarcastic grin, at least it was better than a scowl. Both of them seated themselves by the edge of the fences of the village, waiting for the bandits to arrive.

" Hey, Hiroshi, are you set up there?" Ryouta asked thought the wireless radios they had.

" Urm, yeah...all done," Hiroshi said.

" That was fast..." Ryouta mused.

" Hey!"

" I understand...didn't mean it in such a fashion, Hiroshi..." Ryouta said, before cutting off the transmission.

-

" It looks like everyone is in place. We should be ready," Ryouta replied, reaching the edge of the northern side of the village. He took a fleeting glance around him, wondering where their senseis were. They were not in view. Ryouta wondered if Shikamaru-sensei and Temari-sensei were actually keeping an eye out for them.

" I hear them approaching," Makoto replied.

" Very well," Ryouta said, clapping his hands together, focusing the chakra to his mouth.

-

Sora got up, on the alert after she hear some noise up ahead. People were up ahead, and they were approaching their area fast. It wouldn't take long before they entered the place where they were hidden. Sora grinned happily. It was time.

There was a loud snap somewhere, and soft swishing sounds could be heard all over the place, signifying that Hiroshi's traps had been nicely set off by the bandits. There were cries of pain ringing all over the place as Hiroshi's traps went off. Sora was too far away to see any action, but from all the painful cries ringing all around the place, she could only darkly imagine what exactly was happening right now.

" That sounds...painful," Suzumi replied.

" Sure will be," Sora laughed.

However, after a while, there was complete silence within the area. Sora raised her eyebrows, finding the situation really odd. The bandits had entered the area, but then now they were silent. Sora knew that Hiroshi's traps were good, but she wasn't sure that they were that good until the traps could take out all the bandits.

" Sora..." Suzumi started.

" Shh!" Sora hushed. Things have become awkward now. Not only were the bandits silent, the forest seemed to have muted itself. There was no sound of the wind, no sound if the insects. The only thing she could hear was her own breathing, and Suzumi's.

" Sora, this is a genjutsu!" Suzumi exclaimed suddenly in alarm.

" What!?" she exclaimed in alarm, spinning around.

Situated in the middle of the both of them, wedged between the branches of the tree that separated both of them was a man wearing a shinobi mask. There was a moment of silence, before the man looked up at Sora, his blue eyes piercing hers.

-

" Well, this is weird...the forest seemed to have fallen silent now," Makoto said, cupping his right ear to hear much better. He frowned. The level of silence coming from the forest was disturbing. This could only mean one thing...

" I fear that we are being attacked by shinobi..." Makoto said.

" What?" Ryouta exclaimed.

" There is a total silence coming from the forest, as if a barrier has been set up. This can't be the work of regular bandits, that is for sure," Makoto exclaimed, clasping his hands together, focusing his chakra to his ears. " I sense a dome of chakra covering an area of 100 meters about 50 meters in front of us...that's where Sora and Suzumi are."

" Sora, Suzumi!" Ryouta barked into the wireless radio they had. There was no reply, except empty static. Ryouta feared the worst. This meant that they had to act now.

" Looks like Shikamaru-sensei's prediction was right on track," Ryouta said, pulling out the wireless radio and crushing it in his hand. " The 'real' mission starts now. Let's go!" he exclaimed, leaping into the forest. Makoto merely nodded and followed Ryouta closely, leaping up the branches of the trees and heading north.

-

" Geez, this is too much, you know," Temari sighed as Shikamaru moved his knight forward. He had conveniently brought along a small portable Shogi set and was now playing a match with Temari. Of course, a person with his smarts was way too much for Temari to handle, and the match was almost over within 24 turns. " You could cut me some slack, you know. I rarely play this, even when I'm with you."

" Hmm...are the only decent players my dad, Hyuuga Neji and Morino Hibiki?" Shikamaru asked in a bored expression, lying back on the hut's floor, smoke rising from the cigarette tip in his mouth.

" What kind of expression is that?!" Temari asked.

There was a whizzing sound and a quick thud somewhere. Looking aside, they spotted an explosive tag attached to a kunai being embedded in the wooden floor, some distance away.

The blast blew the hut to its hinges, the explosion setting off a large blast, the flames roaring into the sky. A lone figure sat upon the edge of the nearby houses, staring at the fire as it burned the house to the ground. She looked at the fire for a while, then made a 'tching' sound, the turned around before speaking.

" I should have known better, your 'Shadow Illusionary Technique' really fooled me there," the female said, standing up to face the figure of Shikamaru, who was standing in the middle of one of the roads in-between the houses. He tugged his arm slightly, and two trench knives, attached to metal strings, came flying out of the burning house, and he caught it deftly in his hands. " You used your shadow to create an illusionary image of both you and that female jounin. By my guess, I guess she is no longer around, is she?"

" I find it a bit disturbing that you understand my techniques to such an extent, Maya," Shikamaru replied darkly.

" Come now, being one of the main commanders in the assault of the old Sound village, how can I not know your techniques?" Maya laughed in an off-handed fashion. " I'm surprised that you even came here, knowing that we would come. Do you not fear for your students?"

" We wanted to apprehend you anyway, so I guess using bait was the best way to lure you out. Besides, I'm not worried about my students. They can handle themselves perfectly, I'm sure, although I guess I'm guilty of tricking them into this mission," Shikamaru replied smugly. Maya narrowed her eyes at him, eying him carefully. Shikamaru flicked his fingers, and three kunais appeared in his hands between his fingers.

" As a former ANBU commander of Konoha, I'm taking you in!"

-

" What the hell was that?!" Hiroshi exclaimed, leaping up from his seat, suddenly alarmed at the sudden loud explosion that occurred in the middle of the village. Hibiki stood up as well, a look of surprise on his face as he saw one of the houses go up in flames, the smoke billowing in the air. Both of them got to their feet, wondering what it was all about.

" Why the hell is there an explosion in the middle of the village?!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Beats me..." Hibiki replied.

" Why are you so expressionless!?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Because I was trained to be so?" Hibiki replied, sounding irked.

Before Hiroshi could reply, there was a crackle in the wireless radios they wore on their ears, and Makoto's voice called out to them: 'Guys, head north to where Sora and Suzumi are situated. Trouble has arrived. Take care, and we'll meet both of you there.' before going silent. Hiroshi was about to bark back a reply when there was static in the radio, indicating the reception has been cut off.

Hiroshi turned to ask Hibiki about the situation, but he had apparently already left for the forest, leaping up a tree. " Hey, at least wait for me, damn it!" Hiroshi yelled, following him quickly. Unknown to the both of them, someone observed them from afar, and slowly followed them as they entered the forest quietly.


	23. Chapter 22: Shadow vs Blade

**Chapter 22: Shadow vs. Blade**

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows as Maya suddenly started laughing all of a sudden, grabbing hold of her stomach to try to suppress the pain from laughing too much and at such an intensity. She laughed hysterically as she jumped off the rooftop, oblivious to the fact that Shikamaru was still there and was able to attack her anytime. Shikamaru wondered what was up. After a long while, Maya slowed down, but there was still laughter in her sentences and tears in her eyes.

" I'm sorry, but what you said just now was just...God, that was too hilarious..." Maya replied.

" Geez, I hate troublesome women," Shikamaru sighed.

" Do you really think that you can fight me?" Maya asked all of a sudden.

There was a brief moment of silence, then Maya's body disappeared altogether. Shikamaru spun around and threw the kunais in his hands to the back. Maya whipped through the barrage, executing a spin before striking her hand forward. There was a soft stabbing sound, and Shikamaru looked down to see a stab-like wound open up in the middle of his chest, before puffing up in a ball of smoke.

" Damn," Maya muttered.

Maya withdrew her hand and let the log that was used as the replacement technique fall to the ground. Two shurikens whipped by her side, cutting her cheeks slightly. She hopped backwards, only to see something approach her from behind. Shikamaru's shadow missed just by a fraction as she leaped up upon one of the roofs of the houses, glaring down at him as he was kneeling down behind her, his hands in the regular form of his seal.

Shikamaru glanced at the log, and the stab mark that as located right in the middle. _From the looks of it, when she threw that punch, she stabbed a hole right in the middle of where I was supposed to be. What technique was that? Her attack came from 5 meters away...how is that possible?_ He thought to himself, wondering what was up.

" Smart," Maya commented.

" Quick," Shikamaru replied. 

Maya quickly flipped her hands together. Shikamaru glanced at her for a while, managing to catch the final seal she made. Maya suddenly grinned all of a sudden, then once more, disappeared from sight._ Damn it, she's using speed to attack!_ Shikamaru thought darkly.

Shikamaru reacted before the attack came. He immediately dropped himself to the ground just as he felt something fly behind him from behind. Maya dropped from behind him and swung her arm. Just as he expected, something like some sort of an invisible blade, extended from her arm. The attack missed, and Shikamaru had already extended his shadow at Maya's direction, predicting her attack and where she would be. However, as his shadow passed her body, he felt as if his shadow merely passed over an empty ground. 

" What?" he exclaimed. _An after image! At what speed is she traveling at!_

Maya's attack speed seemed to have sped up as well, because in less than a second, her arm was swinging back at him again, this time vertically downwards. She ripped the ground in half, breaking up the solid floor with her technique. Shikamaru rolled out of the way just in a fraction of a second, but Maya's speed was just too fast. She closed the distance between them in less than a second, standing right in front of him as she raised her arms, as if holding an invisible blade. She whipped her arm down, smashing the ground once more to bits, cleaving a long, deep line along the ground. She raised her eyebrows as she spotted a log in which she cleaved in half, but this time, there were some blood stains on it.

" What's this? Is running and hiding the best you can do?" she asked mockingly.

Several meters away, hidden behind the wall of a house, Shikamaru was leaning on the wall. He observed the ripped out part of his vest where he was bleeding slightly. He somehow managed to pull off another replacement technique, but it wasn't enough to escape the attack entirely. Nevertheless, he was still alive.

Shikamaru tentatively peeked out from behind the wall of the house. Maya was still there, standing in the middle of the road where she had cleaved the road in half with her technique. Shikamaru observed her for a moment, analyzing her previous attack. He noted that she was breathing a bit too heavily.

_As I suspected, using such a techniques would bring a strain to her body. That speed as abnormal, so she had increased her speed somehow. I can hear her straining from using that technique to boost her speed. She must be vexed now that her killing technique failed to kill me...well, almost killed me,_ Shikamaru thought.

_But that invisible blade in her arm? What kind of attack is that? Is she using a long blade in which she is making it invisible?...No, impossible, from the impact, it was definitely a jutsu. I'll need to figure out her trick..._Shikamaru thought.

" Then again, you specialise in trickery, so I guess that comes as no surprise," Maya sighed.

" We'll see about that," Shikamaru replied quietly.

Maya flicked her eyes around as she heard the sound of something whirling in the air. Her eyes caught the sight of two trench knifes flying towards her direction. She flicked her fingers, and then tossed two shurikens to meet with the knives. Clanging noisily before they landed on the floor, she dashed off towards the direction of where the knives appeared from. She clapped her hand together, then with an enormous burst of chakra, blew a powerful wind blast in the direction of one of the houses. The wooden house's foundation broke into bits and crumbled to the floor. However, Shikamaru wasn't there. All that was left was a trench knife embedded into the ground. 

Maya leaped back immediately, keeping her distance as a shadow immediately lengthened from the shadow of the trench knife. Two more shadows snaked up behind her, originating from the trench knives Shikamaru had thrown earlier. She leaped aside, flinging herself away, missing the shadows by inches. 

Shikamaru wasn't going to let up. Eying her from afar, he tried his best to capture her. Maya leaped back and forth, avoiding all the shadows snaking along the ground. She backed up to a house, then leaped up the building.

_That's it!_ Shikamaru thought, flipping out new sets of seals.

Maya flicked her head backwards as she sense something, but this time, the attack was different. A shadow moved out from the rooftop behind her, but this time, it was as if a tendril emerged from somewhere, and the shadow was somehow...solid. Maya had no time to avoid the thing in mid-air, and Shikamaru pierced her with his Shadow Sewing Technique, hitting her shoulder as he pushed her back to the ground.

All of a sudden, Maya flipped in mid-air, and Shikamaru winced all of a sudden. The invisible blade technique in which she used was used to cut apart his Shadow Sewing Technique as she spun around, severing the shadow that pierced her shoulder. Shikamaru winced as her blade tore through his technique, feeling the chakra connection break somehow. Now free, she did a back flip and leaped aside, running up another house.

Shikamaru eyed her carefully as she looked around her surroundings, trying to figure out where Shikamaru was. Shikamaru had taken care to hide himself well, since if she knew his exact position, with her insane speed, she could easily swoop in for the kill. Even without the technique that could boost her speed, her speed was still insanely high for someone of her level, and Shikamaru wasn't really a speed shinobi. 

It looked like using the Shadow Sewing Technique was out of the question with Maya. Since instead of his more immaterial shadow when he used the Shadow Imitation Technique, the Shadow Sewing Technique created a material body of shadow, and with that, Maya could cut them easily with that strange technique she used. 

_This is getting so troublesome..._

" Hmph, to think that you'd be confident enough to use your own students as bait and lure me out, and now having difficulty trying to catch me. You must be feeling a bit disappointed, no?" Maya laughed, stretching her shoulders slightly. Shikamaru's eyes widened as he suddenly saw an immense amount of chakra flow out from her shoulder where he had wounded her, a faint blue swirl circling the area where she had been hit. Her wound closed up after a while, and even though it wasn't enough to heal it completely, she just healed the wound just about enough to seal up the bleeding to avoid any further blood loss.

_Damn it, what kind of medical technique is that? Was it a medical technique in the first place? Granted, the amount of chakra she used to seal up her wound was way more needed if medical jutsu was used, but that was still effective nonetheless..._ Shikamaru thought, frowning. Maya had proved to be a much more capable fighter than he had imagined.

" It's not our nature to be afraid," Shikamaru replied, using a voice projection technique in order to hide his presence, as his voice echoed all around the place. " It would be a shame as one of the five great shinobi countries to be afraid of sending out their shinobis because they were harassed by a bunch of rogue ninjas. Think of the shame we will have to endure."

" Well, you must be pretty confident that you will succeed in this task," Maya replied, looking around. Shikamaru had not made any obvious moves, and his shadows were still swirling around on the ground below.

" Of course, you plan to capture the genins at any rate, so as far as combat situations are concerned, your men are at a disadvantage against the genins, since capturing a target is much harder than killing them. Besides, I think you are underestimating our capabilities," Shikamaru replied confidently.

" Shikamaru...it is you who is underestimating me," Maya replied in a dark voice. Maya quickly formed her hand seals, and before Shikamaru could react to that, she had completed her jutsu. She took a deep breath, then spat out something from her mouth. Shikamaru merely caught the sight of something swirling in the air, more like a spinning ball of wind, which very surprisingly, came flying towards his direction.

_What!_

" Wind Technique: Whirlwind of Destruction! Release!" Maya exclaimed.

The swirling ball of wind suddenly expended all of a sudden, swallowing up the surrounding area. Shikamaru merely leaped back in time as the globe expended at a dangerous rate, almost nicking his leg. He watched in terror and fascination at the expending globe. 

A maelstrom seemed to be occurring in the middle of the globe. Whatever that the globe had managed to encompass was now swirling around and mixed about like the contents of a blender, being ripped apart at a dangerous rate. The nearby house, and even the solid ground, was immediately ripped to shreds. The noise it caused was tremendous, and Shikamaru winced as the noise painfully struck his ears. As the jutsu died down, all Shikamaru saw was a house in the middle of a crater about 10 meters in diameter in width, all in an absolute mess.

Maya slipped up right in front of him as he was stunned, lying on the ground. His reflexes kicked in, and Maya saw him spit out a long thick needle from his mouth which he had managed to keep hidden in his mouth. At a point blank range, and moving at such speeds, disallowed Maya from reacting quickly enough, and the needle struck the side of her head. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make Shikamaru perform his jutsu, and disappear underground to escape her. She slammed her hand on the ground, her 'blade' piercing through the soil, but he was now off somewhere.

_Holy crap! That was one dangerous technique! If I had reacted a second later my leg would probably be missing right now..._Shikamaru thought, glancing from several meters away under the ground. _But besides that, how the heck did she know where I was situated?...Wait, unless..._

Maya spun around as a loud blast echoed from behind her. " Explosive tags?" she asked herself, frowning.

_That has to be it, _Shikamaru thought. _She's using sound to locate where I am. She is after all a former Sound-nin, and must have some sound techniques up her sleeve. If I keep blasting explosive tags for a while, there will just be too much noise for her to listen to my movements until I find a suitable place to hide._

" Bah! Trying to hide huh?" Maya exclaimed. However, she suddenly saw a shadow form out of nowhere, bursting from the ground. Maya leaped back, and then shot to the side, avoiding another shadow that appeared out from nowhere from behind her. Something burst out from the ground beneath her, and Shikamaru suddenly leaped out from below her. He flicked out a trench knife, and with a powerful swing, he aimed for her neck.

He missed by an inch.

Maya swung herself around, her hands clenched and moving about in an arc. " You missed!" Maya exclaimed, striking hard, swinging her hand around to cut through him, except Shikamaru seemed to be made of an ethereal body.

" What!" Maya exclaimed, but it was too late. Shikamaru's shadow stretched out beneath him, and touched hers. Maya felt her body stiffen as his shadow touch hers, and she lost control of her body. She looked up at the image of Shikamaru grinning at her.

She raised her eyebrows as she saw his body suddenly dissolve into nothingness, and the trench knife, imbued with Shikamaru's chakra, fell to the ground and struck the floor. It's shadow was linked into the ground in which the copy of Shikamaru emerged.

" Hmph, to think that I'd fall for one of your tricks, the 'Shadow Illusionary Technique'. You infused your chakra into your special trench knives, then formed a shadow body that could be moved on it's own, almost similar in technique to the Shadow Clone technique. You then used your Illusionary technique to approach me, and captured me with whatever chakra you had left in that trench knife of yours. Commendable, Shikamaru. I really admire your analytical abilities. You are one of the few people who was able to read my moves this far, two other from your village being Hyuuga Neji and Hatake Kakashi," Maya sighed.

" Not the least worried, are we?" Shikamaru asked, using his voice projection technique once more.

" Should I be?" Maya asked nonchalantly. 

Shikamaru could merely grin. She had managed to fall for his trap. The Shadow Illusionary Technique was a recently developed technique he created several years ago, with some help from a close friend of his who was an expert Shadow Clone user. Shikamaru realised that with some adjustments to his chakra and with some alteration, he could create an Illusionary body that was ethereal using his own shadows. In other words, they were no different than a regular clone made from the clone technique, except that this Shadow Illusionary Clone actually projected a shadow of its own, unlike the regular bunshin, not to mention that since it was infused with Shikamaru's chakra, he could control his shadow to lengthen and capture his target. However, the downside was that the clone would need a medium for this technique to work, hence the special trench knives he had that could absorb his chakra.

" I'd like to keep you alive to get any information you have about your organisation, but you are far too dangerous to keep alive," Shikamaru replied. Maya spotted a tendril emerge from her own shadow, and the solid shadow pointed its edge to her neck.

" Oh, you have even figured out that I was part of some organisation..." Maya cooed.

Shikamaru frowned. _Something was not right...she is 'unusually' calm..._

" That's right," she exclaimed, as if reading his mind. " I 'allowed' myself to be caught, Shikamaru." And with that, Shikamaru felt a distortion of chakra within her body, before she went up in a puff of smoke.

_Shit! A shadow clone!_

Shikamaru spun around, only to see the real Maya leap towards him, swinging her arms. Once more, her invisible blades seem to reach out of nowhere, and even though he managed to back up in time, she managed to cut his vest, ripping a wound slightly. Shikamaru winced, seeing her wound him. His eyes caught the sight of the invisible blade she was using, and suddenly, it dawned on him what technique she was using.

_But how was it possible?_

" You hide well, but the thing is when I cut your shadow that stabbed my shoulder earlier, I could feel a general sensation of where your chakra was originating from. I then knew that if I somehow could trick you into catching me, I could find out your location by sensing the chakra flow through your shadow, even though it may be faint. Hence, the Shadow clones!" Maya exclaimed. Shikamaru knew she was right, since when once disperses a Shadow clone, all the knowledge would return to the owner, and since the Shadow clone experienced the effect of being caught, the clone knew where he was located.

Maya gave a swift kick on Shikamaru's abdomen. Coughing out blood, he flew backwards and slammed hard on the wooden wall of one of the farmhouses. Maya flicked her hands, and Shikamaru spotted two kunais tagged with explosive notes hitting his sleeves, pinning him on the wall of the house. The house went up in a large ball of incandescent fire a while later, with Maya standing near the edge of the house, grinning.

_Writer's note: I thought perhaps Shikamaru would at least create something new with his shadow techniques, and since he could actually form his shadow into a solid form but still use it in its normal ethereal form (from the Hidan/Kazuku arc), the Shadow Illusionary Technique might not be such a far-fetched idea._


	24. Chapter 23: The Sonic Kunoichi

**Chapter 23: The Sonic Kunoichi**

Sora reacted almost immediately at a speed that surprised the newcomer immensely, even herself. She slammed the palm of her hand to the base of the branch, then after making sure that she had stabilised herself, threw a sweeping kick at the man's face. He immediately raised his hands to shield his face, but as soon as Sora's foot hit his arms, she kicked off her free foot and launched it at her face. The shinobi leaped backwards, with Suzumi leaping off the branch to avoid him. _A taijutsu user..._ Sora thought.

Sora wasn't sure what was going on right now. The fact that a shinobi showed up instead of a bunch of bandits was quite worrisome, not to mention that they were at it again. Not that Sora really wanted to complain about it, but for the fact that they had been attacked by rogue shinobi twice, three if she considered her Sand companions, for the last two months was just a bit too much. However, that was just making her think too much. She had other things to take care of right now.

" Get the fuck out of this place!" Sora yelled, jumping off the tree and kicking herself towards the enemy, or so she assumed he was an enemy. Seeing her reaction, he spun in mid-air, his body spinning spectacularly as her legs met his in a powerful spinning kick. Sora winced slightly as she felt herself being tossed aside, and she managed to alter the angle in which she was spinning at to hit the side of the tree, cushioning the impact with her legs rather than her body. Her eyes shot around, carefully looking out for the shinobi who would most likely attack her after the mid-air counter-attack he made. There was a blur of movement, and Sora tensed up her arms, ready to strike back, but the shinobi didn't move in her direction.

Suzumi could only freeze as she saw the blurred vision of the enemy shinobi heading towards her. She reacted a moment too late, the shinobi grabbing her hand just before she managed to pull out a bunch of needles from her weapon pack. With one push, he threw her against a tree and pinned her hard against it. She whimpered slightly as she saw the man glaring at her fiercely with his eyes, his face hidden beneath the mask her wore.

" Hands off, you pervert!" Sora yelled loudly, dropping down from above.

Suzumi saw a blur of movement as Sora's leg came up to the man's right, aiming for his head. He raised his arm, trying to block her attack with his hind arm. Sora's attack connected with his arm, but Suzumi felt something invisible fly past her, and the man's eyes widened slightly in shock. For a split second there, Sora grinned.

" Eat this!" Sora exclaimed, hitting the ground and kicking off, aiming her fists towards the man's face. He released one of his hands holding Suzumi down to block the blow, but the previous attack somehow had done something to him, because Suzumi noticed his eyes were slightly unfocused, and from the level he was holding his arm up to block the attack, there was no way Sora could miss. She pierced through his guard, smashing her fists against his jaw, punching him aside. He immediately released his grip on Suzumi after suffering from a concussion to the head, and she kicked him hard in the gut, sending him backwards.

Before she could give a follow-up attack, the man leaped up into the trees, disappearing into the branches. Sora skidded into a halt, not sure whether it was wise to chase after him. After all, she was quite positive that he was still around the area, and it would be troublesome to separate herself from Suzumi. She jumped backwards, skidding next to Suzumi, who was still by the tree.

" Are you alright?" Sora asked, grabbing her hand.

" Um…yeah…" Suzumi stammered. Sora could feel the younger, more inexperienced genin shaking slightly under her grip. Suzumi gasped when Sora squeezed her hands reassuringly, and she looked up at Sora quizzically when she did that.

" Don't worry, Big sister Sora is here. I'll keep you safe, okay?" Sora replied. She quietly chuckled to herself. _What the heck am I doing comforting her? This is so not like my character…_

" Don't be too cocky, girl," a voice replied.

" Shut your trap, you lousy jack!" Sora shot back instinctively. There was a slightly rustle of leave somewhere above them, but Sora could not see anything above them. The forest turned silent again.

Sora considered the possibilities. Against such an opponent, and with Suzumi being half- frightened, there was no way they could escape him. Their only option was to fight their way out of this mess, and Sora guessed she was going to have to deal with it on her own, since Suzumi was being too scared right now. She had some combat abilities, Sora was sure of that from their previous encounter, but perhaps with the lack of Makoto and Hibiki around, she was not that comfortable with that. Come to think of it, it was Makoto who usually ordered her around most of the time, never taking independent action by herself.

" Hey," Sora replied.

" Hmm?" Suzumi whimpered.

" Relax, I'll deal with this guy, so calm down. I need your help," Sora said.

" My help?"

" You said that there was genjutsu that was cast around the area. It might explain why it's so silent. I suck at dispelling genjutsu, so can you dispel it for me," Sora requested.

" Ah…yeah!" Suzumi exclaimed. She formed a seal to focus her energy, then tapped two fingers on Sora's back, muttering " Kai!". Sora suddenly felt something life off her body, like a featherweight veil, and all of a sudden, the sounds of the forest returned back to her.

At that exact moment, the man leaped down right in front of them and dashed towards them, his arm raised in a striking position. Sora immediately grabbed Suzumi and pushed her down to the ground. The shinobi slammed his palm on the bark of the tree, breaking it to bits. Sora quickly pushed Suzumi out of harms way as she braced herself to attack her enemy.

" I don't know what you bastards want, but you ain't getting us without a fight!" Sora exclaimed. The shinobi saw Sora drop into a fighting stance before launching her strikes at him. She threw several wild punches at him, aiming for the middle of his body and his head. The enemy was quick to defend, bringing his arm up when necessary to fend off her blows. He then gave a quick swipe of his hands, aiming for Sora's head. She shifted her weight, her head missing his hands by a fraction.

She grabbed his outstretched arm, and holding it tight, aimed a chop to his shoulders. The man caught her arm before she hit, but she had kicked herself off the ground, and swept her legs around, her smaller size giving her much more flexibility. However, being airborne most of the time also made her prone to attacks, and the person merely swooped around while holding her tightly, throwing her to the ground. He threw down his hand to hit her, only to spot her forming seals despite being thrown down. She finished her jutsu in time and raised her hands to block the blow, letting the jutsu take its effects.

" Shit…" he muttered. Sora had caught him once again. A wave ripple was emitted as their arms met, and Sora amplified the effect with her chakra. With that, she then sent the sound wave from the hit into the man's ear, disorientating him slightly. She pulled herself out from below him, and before he could react, kicked him in the face.

" How's that?" Sora exclaimed. She used sound waves to manipulate the enemy's movement and reaction speed. By distorting the sound waves, it disrupted their inner ear, disturbing their sense of balance. The enemy just got a second dose of her 'Sound Disruption Technique' and was open. Before he had the chance for his inner ear to stabilize itself, she leaped at him and launched a punch to his face, nailing him nicely in the middle of his face.

Suzumi peeked out from behind a tree to check the proceedings. It looked like Sora had soundly beaten, no pun intended, the rogue shinobi that had appeared before them, as he was kneeling on the ground on all fours. Sora was about to strike when she felt something weird. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the man stand up, and besides from a cut on his lips, he looked perfectly fine. He cracked his head slightly, and stretched himself, as if Sora had just delivered a very invigourating massage to his body.

" What…" Sora could only gasp, seeing the man stand up after taking her blow. It was as if all her previous attacks were ineffective. She knew she had nailed him hard, but the amount of hits he took would be quite substantial by now.

" I must commend you on your attacks. Seems like you took a quite a number of techniques from my old village. You even got me there," he said in a deep, reserved voice. " But that level of damage isn't enough to scratch me."

" Damn you!" Sora said, leaping backwards, then channeling a large amount of chakra to the palm of her hands, lunged forward in a large burst of speed and slammed her hand upon his body. The guy didn't seem to bother defending this time, and Sora slammed her palm in his chest. The bones in her finger stung slightly when she slammed into him, but he was quite unharmed.

" Not good enough," he exclaimed, grabbing her arm, then with one swift move, punched her in her gut. Neither Sora nor Suzumi saw his fist connect, but there was a blast-like sound and Sora felt herself being slammed backwards. Suzumi gasped as blood spurted out of Sora's mouth as she slammed painfully onto a tree before falling down, coughing out blood.

" That's one of the Sounds finest taijutsu techniques: Sonic Blow. Not only does it excel in speed and destructive power, no matter how much defense you have, nothing can stop a sound wave as it pierces your body. You do not defend against this technique, you dodge it, which was an action you failed to take," the man replied, crackling his knuckles. From the sound, Suzumi somehow felt that he had something equipped beneath the gloves he wore.

So this was a shinobi from the old Sound village. She knew that a number of their sound techniques involve manipulating sound, usually with a medium of sorts to channel sound waves. The man probably had something equipped under his gloves to amplify sound waves to a damaging extent. Seeing that Sora had fallen, he turned around to look Suzumi, who bit her lip. He then turned around and walked towards her slowly, only to be stop short by Sora's voice.

" It's stupid to look away when your enemy isn't finished yet! Here's your Sound finest taijutsu technique, returned with compounded interest!" Sora yelled. Both of them spun around to see Sora get up and swing her arms in front of her, as if she was slamming the palms of her hand into an invisible target. And an invisible target it was, since there was a loud bang and her arms rebounded themselves, throwing her back slightly from the force of the recoil. The shinobi stood about 20 meters away from her, but the Sonic Blow struck him as if he stood just right in front of her.

" What the hell?!" he exclaimed, feeling the force of the blow smash into his body, and the shock wave reverberating in his body.

" Banzai!" she yelled loudly, before seemingly disappearing from sight. The man spun around, deducing that she would appear right behind him, but he was wrong. Sora leaped at him at point-blank range right in front of him and threw another punch at his face.

" If you can absorb that much damage, then I'll just beat you until you run out of damage to absorb!" Sora exclaimed loudly.

" Sora, that's wrong grammar you are using," Suzumi exclaimed.

" Who gives a damn?!"

The man rolled out of the way as Sora continued to go berserk on him, throwing punches here and there. She swerved around and launched another attack, but this time it was he who disappear. Sora gave a yelp as he suddenly grabbed her by her neck and pushed her against a tree. He then flicked out a kunai all of a sudden and raised it high, before bringing it down on his knee.

" What?!" he exclaimed.

" Suzumi, good work with your genjutsu!" Sora exclaimed, breaking free from his grasp as he was somewhat distracted as he suddenly injured himself. Sora saw Suzumi, who was several meters away, her hands clasped together as she performed an illusionary technique to disrupt his attack while injuring himself at the same time. " Courtesy of and with compliments from Tanaka Sora: Dance of the Praying Mantis!"

She flung her feet upwards, smashing into the shinobi's lower jaw. However, since she was fighting a full-grown adult, her height disallowed her from dealing the maximum impact it would deal if he was any shorter, but the concussion from the hit was more than enough to knock him off balance for the moment. As he reeled backwards, Sora dropped to the ground and sweep her legs, knocking him off the ground. With a swiftly executed move, she clamped her legs around the man's neck as he was airborne and spun around to the best of her ability to imitate a drilling effect. Due to the weight difference, she only managed to complete a half spin before sending his head crashing down on the solid ground. However, she was far from done.

As he lay there in a prone position of the ground, she detached her legs from his neck and jumped in the air to create some momentum for her attack, slamming her foot down on his gut. He gagged slightly as he felt the impact, his body tensing in pain. Sora rolled aside when she was done, gasping slightly for breath.

" Sora!" Suzumi said, running out from behind the tree. Sora backed up slightly to meet her. " What the heck was that?!"

" I dunno, just some combo attack I randomly thought up at the spur of the moment. I also made up the name…" Sora said, gasping slightly.

However, both of them widened their eyes as the body in which Sora attacked was replaced suddenly with a log. Sora spun around, only to feel someone cuff her on the back of her neck and kick her aside. As she tumbled aside, she heard Suzumi scream loudly and she looked up quickly.

The man had recovered from the attack, and somehow managed to slip pass their guard and grab hold of Suzumi. Suzumi squirmed as she was held by her neck by the man's arm, and she was lifted up about a foot above ground level. She tried to resist, but he was holding on to her tightly, his arm crushing against her throat.

" Don't act rashly, or you'll have a broken neck to tend to," he threatened. " Hmph, I can't believe just to capture two genins alive would be so taxing. It's a bit humiliating, you know…"

" You pervert! Let go!" Sora yelled, sounding oblivious.

" You are in no position to argue with me," he said, drawing a kunai and holding it against Suzumi's face.

" How dare you touch Suzumi! I'll make you pay!" Sora yelled, sounding beside herself.

" Don't you dare…argh!"

Suzumi managed to spit one of her small needles on his arm which she had kept hidden in her mouth. Slightly distracted, he released his grip slightly, and Suzumi took the chance to slip though his guard and raise her head slightly, pulling back before head-butting him with the back of her head on his forehead.

" Duck!" Sora exclaimed. Suzumi immediately complied.

Suzumi wasn't sure what happened next, but as soon as she hit the ground, there was an ear rendering roar in the surrounding area, and Suzumi felt a powerful shockwave rippled through the area. The blast flattened her on the ground as she felt the force push her downwards, but other than that, she merely closed her eyes as some sonic blast went up above her. The blast died down a while later, with the sound of a body hitting the ground some distance away and Sora moaning in pain.

Suzumi opened her eyes tentatively to see what had happened. Sora managed, in a fraction of a second, to blast the person away, but not without a cost. Her left arm was now bleeding profoundly all over, as a number of arteries burst and ripped open along her arm. Sora was now kneeling on the ground, holding her arm painfully, trying to bear with the pain.

" Oh God, Sora!" Suzumi cried in alarm, shocked at the damage she had sustained.

Sora merely looked at her and produced a chuckle. " Hey, are you alright?" Sora asked.

" Don't bother with that now! You are seriously injured!" she exclaimed. She focused chakra to her hands, and Sora saw that they started to glow like the time when she used her medical jutsu. She then placed her hands on her arm, and Sora began to feel Suzumi inserting her chakra into her body, sewing back her wounds and closing the bleeding areas.

" Nothing serious…" Sora replied nonchalantly.

" It is serious! What the heck did you do?!" Suzumi was almost screaming. The chakra in her hand was wavering from terror and worry.

" I just pulled off a Supersonic Palm Strike on him, I just didn't focus my chakra properly because I didn't have the time. I had to hit him before he recovered himself," Sora answered.

Suzumi understood Sora's attack now. The Supersonic Palm Strike utilized a collected amount of energy in her arm, which she could collect and explode in a powerful sonic ripple. Suzumi knew that sound techniques usually used a medium for their attack, and she knew what Sora was using as a medium: her bones.

Being made of a solid material, it was the best part of her body to send out sound or sonic waves. However, since she was actually channeling vibrations through her bones, a level of chakra control is needed to make sure none of the waves actually damage her arm, since the attack is channeled inside her arm. When Sora attacked earlier, she probably didn't focus her chakra enough or made the required hand seals, but just charging as much chakra as she could into her arms. Even though her attack made contact, the jutsu backfired on her since she was too hasty.

" You should have waited and prepared it properly…" Suzumi replied.

" I didn't have the time…he might have done something to you…" Sora muttered.

" You are always so reckless!" Suzumi scolded.

" Well, I always am, no?!" Sora shot back, sounding vexed.

" Why do you do such reckless things!? You have me worried for nothing!" Suzumi exclaimed.

" Just shut up!"

Suzumi wasn't sure what happened next. Perhaps it was due to her anger, her fear, or a combination of both that just made her snap. Sora felt Suzumi slap her painfully across the face, and it made her pause for a second.

" I hate that! That reckless abandon! That you act tough and mighty in such a situation! You think that you are some sort of invincible person of sorts! Well, know this: you are not, and stop doing such reckless actions! Why do you get me so worried for?!" Suzumi yelled, taking her hand back once more, but this time, Sora caught her hand before she slapped her and looked at her pitifully in the eye.

Suzumi had to convince herself that she was actually looking at Sora right now, because the expression that was reflected on Sora's face, and the sensation of her hand holding hers was something Suzumi would never thought would come from someone of Sora's caliber. Suzumi looked painfully into her eyes, telling herself Sora wasn't feeling that way, but she had been trained as a medic-nin for some time now, and one of her skills she had picked up was to read peoples expressions.

And Sora's expression was telling her that she was about as scared as she was about the situation. The look in her eyes, the trembling in her hand, the brave front she was trying to put up for Suzumi's sake.

" Sora?" Suzumi quietly asked.

" Don't worry…it was nothing…just a moment of weakness," Sora replied, her voice quavering slightly.

" Are you…scared?" Suzumi asked.

" What? Me? What the heck am I supposed to be scared about?" Sora asked, faking a laughed. There was some silent tension in the air between them for a while. Sora gripped her arm, which was still bleeding slightly.

" Honestly, I'm afraid of a lot of things: I'm afraid of people telling me how I really look, I'm afraid of insects, I'm afraid of thunder and lightning, I'm afraid of loud noises, I'm afraid of being weak, I'm just afraid of being afraid. Comparatively, I'm probably more of a coward than Hiroshi is, despite his level of bravery…you must be wondering what the heck am I doing this tough chick attitude?" Sora replied with her back turned against Suzumi.

" I don't know either…but it's more than just proving a point that females are better than males. I just know that in front of people I care, I can't be afraid. I can't afford to be afraid when you are trembling in fear about the situation," Sora replied. Suzumi wasn't sure what to say, except that tears started to fall down her cheeks.

The shinobi started to pick himself up again, groaning in pain.

" The weak rely on the strong, isn't that right? That's what Ryouta always says, and even though I hate to admit it, I guess he is correct. I can't show weakness when you depend on me that much…" Sora replied.

" Sora…?"

" I know you are scared…I know that I am too…but just hang on alright. I'll deal with things here, and the boys will be coming soon, so don't worry…everything will be just fine," Sora said, trying to pacify Suzumi.

" I'm…sorry…" Suzumi sobbed.

" Hey, being sisters doesn't mean you have to say you are sorry…ain't that right?" Sora asked.

Finding renewed strength, Sora started to flip hand seals, despite the pain in her bleeding left arm. Suzumi saw her entire body seem to vibrate all of a sudden, and there was a sharp ringing noise in the air. Her silvery white hair started to stand on its end, as if there was some static charge being channeled though her head.

_I can't show weakness…not when I have people I need to protect…_

Sora wasn't sure why she had such a tomboyish attitude. She knew that she picked it up because of Kyouya…her younger brother.

Kyouya was born premature, and had a weak body. When she was young, she would always peer down his cot and look at his frail, weak body. It was as if sometimes his life was just ebbing away from him.

Sora never initially like Kyouya. Perhaps she was too young at that time to comprehend matters, but with Kyouya having such a weak body, her parents paid more attention to him, and she felt rejected. After all, what did they see in such a weak, inhibited child? Was Sora that inferior? She hated the fact that they paid more attention to his needs than hers, and she felt neglected that way.

She grew up disliking him. She didn't really hate him, but she felt that he stole away some attention and love she would have gotten from other people. She avoided him most of the time, and it probably was the reason why he gave her puzzled expressions most of the time when she passed him, not bothering to speak with him.

Then, one day, the Sand, along with the Sound, attacked their village.

Kyouya, being brought along to the shopping district with his uncle, could not be found in the shelters where they hid. Her parents, despite protests from the shinobi guarding the place, decided to get out of the shelters to find their son. Sora managed to slip though as well, but it wasn't Kyouya who was on her mind, but rather her parents that went searching for him.

Sora was quite numb with all the violence going on the streets, but she merely wandered down the roads, trying to find her parents. There were some close calls and near misses, but she managed to escape relatively unharmed from all the disaster. However, as she managed to get to the nearby shopping district, she saw a person lying there, someone whom her query was looking for…her brother, lying on the street.

For a moment there, she started to hate herself. Here she was feeling spiteful to her parents for worrying about her now-dying brother. Thoughts started to swirl around her head as she knelt down next to his body. Perhaps he would have avoided such a needless death if she bothered to keep him company in the house instead of following his uncle to the shopping district. Perhaps he would be still alive if she had bothered fixing his stuffed toy instead of him asking his uncle to take him to the shopping district to get a new one. Perhaps…if she even gave a slight damn about him throughout his 4 years being alive, none of this would have happened.

" Sis…" Kyouya moaned as he felt someone knelt down next to him.

" Yes?" she replied in a dead monotone, her voice lacking any humanity at the moment.

" Is that you?" he asked weakly. Sora felt him grab hold to her fingers, his tiny hand wrapped around her digit.

" Yes, it's me…" she said.

" I…knew you'd come for me…" he said, whispering his final words.

It was the first time Sora ever remembered herself crying.

Perhaps she had not been honest with Suzumi. She was afraid, but not of the things she had listed above.

She was just afraid of something happening to Suzumi.

Giving out a hoarse war cry, she leaped forward towards her enemy, the person she had to protect Suzumi against. Suzumi could only gasp at the sight which unfold in front of her.

The blast was as powerful as an explosive note going off in the area. Suzumi felt herself being forced backwards at the blast. Sora blew up the shockwave at pointblank range upon the shinobi's chest, and the blast that was emitted from it was enormous. The surrounding trees started to break apart and crack open form the blast, and long cracks appeared on the ground where she was, drawing lines all over the place.

_You are only strong when you have someone you want to protect…_the words of the former Third Hokage of her village echoed through her head.

The blast threw her back as well, and Suzumi leaped up and caught her just in time, both of them flying backwards at the same time. Sora had knocked herself unconscious from the very sonic blast she had created. Suzumi checked her vitals immediately. She was breathing slowly and weakly, but other than some fractures in both her arms, she was fine.

" Why?...Why do you go so far for me?..." Suzumi moaned, looking at her unconscious companion, who was lying peacefully in her arms. Perhaps she would learn why one day, but today wasn't the day. She cried softly as she hugged Sora softly, muttering a soft "…Thank you…"

" What's this? Getting all sentimental all of a sudden?"

Suzumi's head shot up, only to see the man pick himself up and brush off the dirt that had soiled his attire, and crack his knuckles, before looking at her with his piercing blue eyes.


	25. Chapter 24: The Illusionary Medic

**Chapter 24: The Illusionary Medic**

Suzumi was rather transfixed in fear as she saw the shinobi stood up once more, craning his neck slightly, and besides breathing slightly heavily, was rather fine. Very slowly, he started to walk towards her, calm and collected, confident that Suzumi would not give a challenge as worthy of Sora, who had been knocked out cold.

Suzumi tried to back away from him, but as she tried to get up while carrying Sora which was now dead weight, she slipped slightly in panic, and fell back upon the dirty forest floor, landing on her rear end. Panicking even further, she started to kick herself away from him, pulling Sora along, trying to put as much distance between herself and the man.

It was a rather pathetic attempt, for the shinobi merely performed a basic body flicker technique, and within a flash he was right behind her. One long arm shot out, and Suzumi gasped as he gripped her neck as tight as a vice, lifting her up as if she was made of paper. Suzumi struggled slightly as she felt her legs lift off from the floor.

" Your friend here did quite a number on me…I'm contemplating on whether to take her back in one piece," he replied, looking down at Sora, whom he had placed his foot upon her head, scowling at her. Suzumi struggled to free herself, but the vice that held her neck started to tighten hard the instant she started the attempt. " Don't try it, if you know what's good for you…" he threatened.

" Get…your…foot…off…my…friend!" Suzumi gasped.

The man merely laughed sarcastically, and to her horror, lifted his leg off Sora to kick her in the gut. Defenseless, Sora's body was flung towards the other side, her back slamming into a tree and hitting the ground, collapsing in a heap.

" So what? What are you going to do about it?" the man snarled.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if he had not done that, Suzumi might have just been a tad bit more compliant, but as soon as she saw Sora being kicked aside, something inside of he just snapped all of a sudden. The sudden fear she felt earlier was gone, her adrenaline now fueling her sudden, undetermined anger instead of her trembling terror. She didn't know how, or why she was doing it, but she decided, from now on, she would be giving him a world of hurt.

_I cannot allow myself to be protected all the time…for once, I need to protect those that I hold dear to me in turn!_

Suzumi took a quick breath, taking as much air as she possibly could into her mouth, and spat out a needle which she had kept hidden in her mouth quickly. The man spotted her action, and merely flicked his head aside to avoid the shot, but that attack was to merely serve as a distraction for Suzumi. She released one of her hands and procured a long, acupuncture needle in which she kept around her armband on her hand. With one deft flick, the needle had punctured a hole into his sinew, and the vice-like grip was released from her neck.

" Why you…!"

Suzumi took a step back and flung several small needles in his direction. The man merely raised his hands, crossing them in front of his face to avoid them hitting him in the face. Suzumi took this chance to pop a small, purple pill into her mouth. Chewing hard on it and mixing it with her chakra and air, she continued by spewing out a dark, sickly coloured purple gas from her mouth.

The shinobi leaped backwards, wary of the poison gas Suzumi had just shot out. Not only did it serve as a barrier by keeping him backwards, but it also served Suzumi as a smokescreen, as the thick, noxious gas blocked his view of her. By the time the gas had dispersed, Suzumi had already hid herself, along with Sora.

_Let's do this!_ She thought, forming her seals as she looked at him from behind one of the tree trunks. _Mirror Illusion: Mirror Image Clone Technique_.

Several figures of Suzumi started to appear all around the place, all of them armed with acupuncture needles in their hands. The shinobi merely rushed forward towards the nearest Suzumi which he saw, running his arm at her gut. Predictably, his arm merely passed through her image, as if nothing was there.

Two of her clones threw their needles at him, hitting him on his shoulder and legs. He turned his attention towards the both of them, rushing towards the two of them, his arms swinging in a wild, wide arc, but he still only managed to reach thin air. The rest of them pulled their arms back, attempting another go at him, but he just managed to disappear just in time, leaping up into the trees.

A dull thud was heard, and he managed to leap off the branch he was standing on just before the explosive tag tied to a kunai went off. However, as he skidded aside while the blast went off, his nose picked up something in the air, something sweet and fragrant. It took him a while to register what it actually was, and when he did, the effects had already taken effect.

Suzumi could sense the poison power she had prepared was now disturbing his chakra system, and she felt she was ready for the second wave. She unzipped her pack and procured a small whistle, and clenching it between her teeth, blew slightly into it, producing a shrill sound. Upon hearing it, the man closed his ears, feeling a sound genjutsu coming up.

_" Do you think genjutsu is a weak shinobi art?" Suzumi asked one day._

_Both Makoto and Hibiki stopped in their tracks as the three of them walked down one of the main market streets and turned around to look at their newly acquired teammate to make up their four man team along with their jounin sensei. Suzumi still felt a little shy around the two guys: one who was blind, yet one of the best ninjutsu users in her class, and the other with a tenacious fighting ferocity that could rival a wild boar. Next to them, she felt coming up a little short._

_They had just recently formed their team, and had a few introductions between themselves. Makoto was the quiet, serious guy, his blindness probably keeping him slightly quiet. Suzumi had known that since a few years ago, when he had lost his sight, and had always helped him every opportunity she got, along with Hibiki, but somehow, even when they were a team, they still felt so much like strangers to her._

_" What brought this up?" Makoto asked, smiling slightly, as if she needed to be calmed down._

_" Well…I just thought…hmm…" Suzumi muttered._

_" What are you worried about? You had the top scores in genjutsu lessons during your entire course in the sand academy. That should count as something, no?" Hibiki asked, slinging his spear on his shoulder like he always did._

_" It's just that compared to the rest of you, I just come up short…somehow…" Suzumi replied._

_" That's preposterous," Hibiki replied._

_" We all have flaws, Suzumi. No shinobi is perfect. That's why we work in a team, so that each of us can cover up for the others flaws. You are as good as any of us, and I want you to think of it that way," Makoto replied._

_Suzumi didn't seem too convinced._

_" Look, genjutsu isn't some sort of sissy-type shinobi art. Do you know why not many people use genjutsu? That's not because it sucks, but only a select number of talented shinobi can utilise," Makoto replied. " Since we are a team now, why don't you help us with your knowledge, eh?"_

_" What?" Suzumi asked._

_" That's a good idea. Makoto and I suck in genjutsu. How about some pointers on how to defend against genjutsu?" Hibiki suggested, walking up vertically the wall of a shop to reach the rooftop. It was almost a habit of theirs, to walk and run along the rooftops of their buildings. After all, they could do it as shinobi, and it beats cutting through an extra 100 meters of distance to walk. Makoto followed quickly enough, and helped Suzumi upwards._

_" Urm, pointers?" Suzumi asked._

_" Yeah, come on, some pointers won't hurt," Hibiki said._

_" Well, what about?" Suzumi asked._

_" How about telling us how to defend against genjutsu? After all, we are probably not going to learn it anyway, we may as well learn how to defend ourselves against it in the future. So, how do you defend yourself against genjutsu anyway?" Makoto asked._

_" ...Urm..."_

_" What? Did I say something wrong?" Makoto asked. Hibiki paused as well, wondering what as up._

_" No, it's just I find it strange hearing you ask a question," Suzumi admitted._

_" What? You assumed this punk knew everything there is about shinobi lore?" Hibiki chuckled._

_" Hey, watch your language..." Suzumi said, scowling slightly._

_" Hmm, yeah..alright...just don't kill me, alright?" Hibiki laughed out loud. Suzumi pouted slightly and Makoto could only smile and sigh at his friends attitude._

_" Well, guess I'll be giving out genjutsu defense lessons 101," Suzumi said. " Well, I'm sure both of you know that genjutsu is a skill where we try to take over the enemy's senses, and to fool his senses into believing something false. This can be done by changing the environment, but the best way is to mess with his chakra system. It takes a considerable amount of skill to do this, but when properly executed, it works wonders."_

_" The best way to strike using genjutsu is to utilise it properly and knowing when to strike, especially when the enemy is most vulnerable. For example, if it was a sight genjutsu, what would you do first?" Suzumi asked._

_" What do you mean?" Hibiki asked._

_" If you see a shinobi preparing to hit you with genjutsu, and you, let's just say you just know it somehow..."_

_" You make me sound dumb..."_

_" ...What would you do first?" Suzumi asked._

_" Hmm...not give a damn?" Makoto suggested._

_" Well, no shit, cos you can't see!" Hibiki exclaimed, and the other two chuckled. " Hmm...avoid looking at him?"_

_" Exactly. But then again, you must be wary. After all, if he is trying to trick your senses, what is there not to say that he's not trying to trick you as well. It is a vulnerable mistake shinobi's make. You can't assume that he will hit you with a sight genjutsu, because if you think that way, your other senses will be compromised."_

_Bingo!_ Suzumi thought, jumping out from her hiding spot, her hands having formed the necessary seals for her jutsu. The shinobi looked up, only to fall for her genjutsu she cast as she clapped her hands together and exclaimed " Mirage Illusion Technique: Sand Disturbance Flower".

As soon as her feet hit the floor, a large wall of sand suddenly emerged from the ground, surrounding her body, floating around until she became ethereal. The shinobi looked confused for a second, not before feeling something hit him from the back. He swung backwards, only to feel thin air, while three senbon needles stuck through his back.

There was another wave of wind, and the rustling of sand flowing to his right, and he spun around to his right, only to feel another set of needles hit him by his side. Turning his head around, another set flew to his side, hitting his legs. Suzumi was doing well in concealing herself from him, hitting him while he can't spot her.

" Don't be to confident, punk!" he said, clapping his hands together, then closing his eyes for a second. All of a sudden, a second later, he crouched slightly, then fired himself towards a certain direction, his arms outstretched. He managed to smash into something, and as he slammed his hand upon a nearby tree, he managed to catch Suzumi by her neck, pinning her towards the tree.

" Sound, girl. I can track you using that," The shinobi replied, snarling at her.

Suzumi merely burst into a puff of smoke and the man found himself holding a piece of log against the tree.

Suzumi leaped down from behind him, landing perfectly by sitting herself on his shoulders. She flicked out another senbon and stabbed him hard on the base of his neck, missing by inches and hitting his shoulder instead since he was halfway in the process of throwing her off his shoulders, slamming his fists against her head and knocking her off. Suzumi gave a short groan of pain as she was knocked aside, while the shinobi pulled out the needle, which was dripping in his blood.

Angry now, he jumped at her, and Suzumi was unable to avoid it this time. She felt his hand grab her neck and pin her to the floor, while his free hand punched her hard in her gut. Suzumi started to cough out blood as he hit, the impact striking her hard and causing some internal bleeding. He raised his hand again, but Suzumi found the time to crush the pill she was holding in her hands, which emitted poisonous purple smoke once more. Again, the man was forced to back off to avoid getting poisoned.

Suzumi rolled herself towards the side, keeping her distance as the man started to circle around her, his footsteps moving around the perimeter of the poison gas cloud. Suzumi pulled out a set of senbon needles, only to see the man appear right next to her and slam his palm against her face. However, the man merely found his hand hitting against a log once more.

Needles stabbed him deep into his legs while he was occupied, coming out of nowhere. Turning around, he saw Suzumi some distance away, taking out another set of needles in her hands. The man dashed aside, the pain and the blood that was seeping out of his leg of little consequence. Suzumi winced as he managed to grab her neck and squeeze it tight, this time not an illusion anymore.

Not intending to go down without a fight, she grabbed two senbon needles and pierced them in-between the massive arm that held her down. The sharp edge sank deep into one side of his arm and came out from the sinewy point on the other side, but he didn't seem to feel any pain. Even as the blood continued to drip down all over Suzumi, covering her face in his blood, he didn't wince one single bit. His only reply was to pick her up like some rag doll and slam her hard on a tree.

Suzumi coughed out blood, feeling the taste of it in her mouth as she looked up at the man dizzily. She felt herself running low on breath and energy, and she barely had enough to hold his hand back slightly from breaking her neck. He was furious now, his eyes looking deep into hers. Suzumi tried to grab hold of the needles that she had stuck into his arm and twist them apart to deal some damage, but all that she managed was to make him grunt loudly.

" Hey, pick on someone your own size!" someone yelled loudly from above them. Both of them, the man and Suzumi, looked up towards the tree they were under, only to spot a figure standing above them.

" ...You!" Suzumi exclaimed, as the figure leaped off the tree a second later.


	26. Chapter 25: The Leaf Puppeteer

**Chapter 25: The Leaf Puppeteer**

" Wait up, damn it! Don't leave me behind!" Hiroshi exclaimed as Hibiki continued to storm forward like a man possessed, not bothering about Hiroshi for one bit. Hiroshi was used to his sort of attitude from Hibiki, but this time, there was a danger in the air and this was no time to just ignore a comrade, despite a comrade hailing from a village he despised.

Hiroshi immediately flicked out a windmill shuriken from his weapon launcher, and fired it towards Hibiki's side. Hibiki flinched all of a sudden when the huge weapon came flying in from his side, slamming into a nearby tree, breaking splinters off the bark. Hibiki stopped in his tracks, and Hiroshi managed to catch up to him by leaping quickly along the branches to where he stood.

" What the hell is the big idea?!" Hibiki exclaimed, spit flying from his mouth.

Hiroshi surprised even himself when he angrily grabbed Hibiki roughly by the collar of his attire and pushed him back. " I've had it with your attitude!" Hiroshi yelled.

" So what?! As if..."

" Look, you aren't the only prick here who is worried about the things that are going on in this place, alright?! I've got my friends to think about as well, but if we don't work together, there is no way we can set things straight. We don't even know what we are facing out there, and you plan on taking on everything by yourself?!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

Hibiki didn't say a word, but he merely glared back, staring hard at Hiroshi, his breath coming hard and ragged. He didn't say much, but apparently he calmed down for a second.

" Is that all? I'd thought both of you might argue on for a little longer…" an unfamiliar female voice said.

Both of them spun around, only to see three windmill shurikens fly towards their direction. Both Hibiki and Hiroshi immediately leaped aside, jumping away as the windmill shurikens slammed into the branch they were standing upon, breaking it apart into splinters, with Hiroshi covering his eyes to avoid getting hit by all the wooden splinters. Hibiki rolled aside, his spear out and armed as he looked around for any sight of an enemy.

" Earth Release: Ground Prison Technique!"

" Oh shit!" Hibiki exclaimed.

There was some slightly movement on the ground beneath him for a second, then all of a sudden, a huge wall erupted all around him. Hibiki tried to jump away, but the large mold of earth rose high, wrapping him in a layer of soil. The soil managed to stick upon his body, leaving his left arm and head above the mold, struggling slightly to release himself.

" Hibiki!" Hiroshi exclaimed, seeing Hibiki getting trapped all of a sudden.

A thin, lithe figure dropped down from above, landing right next to the trapped Hibiki, laughing slightly. The female shinobi had short purple hair that dangled right before her neck, and she was dressed in the typical Cloud shinobi garb, thick vests to block out the cold. She cracked her hands slightly as she took a good look at Hibiki.

" Well, I should say my catch today was rather splendid," she replied.

Hibiki started muttering as much obscenities at the top of his voice, as fast as he could, towards her.

" Brilliant catch indeed," she said, before turning to Hiroshi, making him jump slightly in surprise. " One more left…"

" Get out of here now!" Hibiki exclaimed.

Hiroshi was a little confused. " What?! But I..."

" Go! There is no way you can beat her yourself! Go north now! There is a range she has to keep if she is to hold me in place, so she can't chase you too far! Go now!" Hibiki yelled at the top of his voice. Hiroshi merely looked at him, giving him a weird look like he had somehow went nuts or something. " You jackass, what are you waiting for!?"

" I'm...not leaving you," Hiroshi said as firmly as he could.

" You lousy prick! I'm not impressed with your comradeship!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" You don't need to be. I'm not doing this for you, Hibiki. I'm doing what I think is right," Hiroshi said, bracing himself against his opponent. " Look at it logically, if I can't stand a chance helping you here, then what chance do I have in helping the girls? Besides, despite being as I am, it's against my nature to leave my comrades."

" I'm not your damn comrade!"

" Well, each person is entitled to their own opinion, I don't care. What you think is not important, what is really important is how I feel about the topic. Your regard on whether you accept me or not is irrelevant, and frankly speaking, it has always been," Hiroshi answered firmly.

Hibiki was lost for words to speak. Hiroshi wondered if he had stumped him, or he was just too angry to speak.

" Done chatting?" the female shinobi asked. " Kaname personally doesn't mind mindless chatter, but I have a schedule to keep up with."

" Well, sorry about that, I'll attempt to make this quick," Hiroshi said, pulling out a scroll from his pack quickly. Unrolling it, he bit his hand and drew a bloody line along the scroll, before taking out a large puppet, the exact same one he had custom made. He flicked out his fingers, shooting out the chakra lines and attaching it quickly to the puppet.

" What he hell do you think you are doing?! You can't use puppets properly!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" A Leaf shinobi using puppets?" Kaname mused, raising her eyebrows.

" Let's go out with a bang, shall we?" Hiroshi asked.

" Fine by me. Show me what you have, kid!" Kaname exclaimed.

Hiroshi immediately flicked his fingers, sending down chakra signals towards the puppet. He had always been amazed at the amount of detail one can control the puppet with with just mere chakra. The arms shot out and the head shot up, before opening it gaping mouth and firing multiple kunais in Kaname's direction. She merely leaped aside, all of them missing her by several feet. Hiroshi leaped backwards, keeping his distance.

Hibiki noted that he was making very obvious movements with his hands, so obvious and with such little subtlety that even an average genin would be able to read his movements. Makoto waved his hands outwards in a big swing, which in Hibiki's opinion, felt clumsy and cumbersome. The arm joints shot out, 4 in total, and flew towards Kaname.

Hidden blades immediately popped out of the am joints as they flew towards her at top speed. Kaname merely jumped aside, dodging them one by one. They were of no real threat anyway, since they were not laced with poison anyway. Kaname flicked out two kunais from her weapon pouch and started knocking them aside. The arm joints were merely tossed aside, but with Hiroshi controlling them with the chakra strings, they merely bounced back once more and shot right at her.

" Interesting skill you have there, but you are nothing but a rookie!" Kaname shot back, taking a quick side step and headed towards Hiroshi's left flank.

" I think you are judging me too quickly here," Hiroshi replied.

" I think she's right," Hibiki scowled.

" I think you aren't helping me," Hiroshi replied.

Hiroshi raised his arm to the left and fired a smoke grenade towards her. Kaname skidded to a halt when she saw the thing being fired, and reflexively raised her hands to her face as the thing exploded, bursting clouds of purple smoke that blinded her vision. There was a swift quick motion behind the curtain of smoke, and Kaname assumed that Hiroshi was going to use the puppet to attack, so she backed up slightly. However, it came to her surprise to see Hiroshi leaping out from the wall of smoke, his arms armed with windmill shurikens and kunais.

He fired the windmill shuriken at Kaname with some odd-looking contraption that was attached to his arm, and Kaname backed up just quick enough to miss the thing from sinking its sharp edges through her feet. She swung her hands up just in time to parry Hiroshi's incoming stab from above. Hiroshi immediately flicked his fingers around, and twisted his hand aside to grab hold of her arm and push her back with all his strength. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him flick his fingers using his free hand.

His puppet rose immediately right behind her, as if he had somehow summoned him to that spot. The ugly head dropped it's jaw, and fired several kunais out of its gaping jaw. Pinned into her place, Kaname instantly head-butted Hiroshi, slamming her forehead against his. Hiroshi reeled backwards in pain as stars started to circle around his forehead as Kaname released herself from his grasp. Now free, she aimed a kick to his head, sending him flying aside.

" That was bold, but rather stupid, I should say," Kaname said as she watched Hiroshi hit the floor and kicked up an amount of dirt as he skidded across the dirty, sandy ground.

" Get out of here, jackass! I already told you, you can't win!" Hibiki yelled at him once more.

" If I can't beat her, then there is no point in running," Hiroshi said, standing up bravely, wiping the dirt off his chin. He rubbed his cheek slightly, upon the point of contact where Kaname's foot met his cheek.

" Don't lie to yourself. I can see you are shaking in fright," Kaname replied. Hiroshi looked down to his legs, which were quivering slightly. His breath felt short and shallow in his mouth. He attempted to bite his tougue to stop himself from shaking.

" Maybe, but that is still no excuse to run away from this fight," Hiroshi replied.

" I like your resistance, but it's quite futile, I believe," Kaname replied.

She slammed her hands hard on the ground, and Hiroshi tumbled slightly as he felt the earth vibrate rather strongly. Kaname disappeared in a puff of smoke, formed from dirt and sand, and from the gaping hole underground, it was obvious she disappeared to the ground below.

Hiroshi recalled his puppet, and as it shot back towards him, Hiroshi jumped up, making his puppet form some vague stand shape, and used him as a stepping stone of sorts. Using the given lift, he jumped up towards one of the trees, using wires fired from his weapon launcher to hook himself upon one of the branches. He then reeled himself in, pulling himself up one of the branches as he surveyed the area below him.

Kaname was nowhere to be seen. It was impossible for Hiroshi to even try to guess where she was, since he didn't have any X-ray vision of sorts. His eyes darted here and there, then finally resting upon Hibiki.

_I need to free him first..._Hiroshi thought.

He flicked his fingers, and his puppet immediately jumped to where Hibiki was, still stuck in that mold of earth. It bent it's elbow, and fired a large knife into the ground, sinking deep into the ground. Its other arm opened up, and Hibiki saw out of the corner of his eye that it dropped a kunai, tagged with an explosive note into the hole the puppet just made.

" What the hell are you doing!?" Hibiki exclaimed alarmed. " Are you trying to..."

Before Hibiki could finish the sentence, the explosive note blew up, but despite being in such a close vicinity towards Hibiki, he was left unharmed. The blast send ripples of shockwaves underground, and the explosive force cracked the surface of the solid earth mold that held Hibiki in place. Hibiki struggled slightly, and freed his trap hand, while looking incredulously at Hiroshi. _What?! How can his calculations be so correct?!_

Kaname, having seen what Hiroshi was capable of, took action immediately. Hiroshi gave a yelp as the tree he was standing on started to topple to the ground, having being unearthed by Kaname below him. The tree started to fall down as Kaname smashed it's roots, then forced it to tilt. Hiroshi fell off the tree, but managed to pull a roll as he hit the floor to break the fall slightly.

A hand burst out from below the ground and grabbed his foot. Hiroshi turned around, a kunai in his hand, ready to strike back. Kaname released him immediately, but Hiroshi felt some sort of tremor behind him, and spinning around, he saw Kaname rise from the ground right behind him.

He moved his right arm immediately, but she stretched out and in one deft move, grabbed his hand and pinned him down. Hiroshi raised his left arm, but Kaname spun around, and before he knew it, she had pinned his arm down to the ground with a kunai, stabbing it through his hands. His puppet stayed where it was, now that he was unable to move his hands to move it forward. He flicked his fingers as far as it could go. The puppet merely flinched.

" Sorry, kiddo, but I think puppeteers should keep their distance," Kaname said, breathing down his face.

" Couldn't agree more," Hiroshi said, slamming the soles of his feet on the ground.

Kaname spun around, seeing several chakra lines connect through the soles of his feet, shooting out towards the puppet. Once attached, the puppet jumped back to life, and fired several kunais in her direction. Kaname leaped out of the way, and Hiroshi freed himself, pulling out the kunai that was stuck to his hand out from the ground, and tossing the bloody weapon aside.

Kaname found her footing and leaped at Hiroshi once more, but he managed to call his puppet back in time. The puppet stood in her way as she barged right up towards him. Flipping a few seals, she immediately dropped beneath the ground and a second later, pulled his puppet down beneath the ground. There was a loud, crunching sound, and when Hiroshi pulled his puppet upwards, the legs were missing, broken from its joints.

" Tch!" Hiroshi replied, moving his puppet away.

Kaname dashed up to him, coming in close. Hiroshi made his puppet fire out the hidden blades under its arm, but Kaname merely dodged through the attack. Hiroshi fired the joints out from it's place, but Kaname merely flicked out two explosive notes from her sleeves, procured out of thin air, stuck them to his puppet's arm joints, and knocked them aside, blowing up in a spectacular motion by their side.

Hiroshi was far from done. Kaname's eyes opened in surprise as the puppet's chest opened up, and metal wires shot out from everywhere. Kaname leaped back, but several wires snagged her slightly outstretched left arm, and halted her movement. A second later, Hiroshi came flying through, his fist connecting against her face, smashing her to the ground.

Kaname groaned slightly as Hiroshi punched her, hard. She went toppling to the ground, and Hiroshi leaped upon her fallen body. However, she managed to roll aside before he managed to land on her, and swept her legs at him. Hiroshi dropped to the ground and rolled aside, missing the kick to his head. Kaname got up, took one swift step at him and using the kunai in her hand, stabbed him in his gut.

" Hiroshi!" Hibiki exclaimed.

Hiroshi tasted blood in his mouth as the kunai sank into his fleshy body, the warm scent of blood trickling down his attire, the fluids going down his legs. He felt his vision blur slightly from the attack, his senses slightly numb.

" It isn't a serious wound, but I'd advice you to not push it any further. I'd like to keep you alive," Kaname replied.

For a reply, Hiroshi merely grabbed her hand tightly, and flicking his fingers using another free hand, sent his puppet flying through the air. Kaname tried to yank her hand back, Hiroshi being too weakened to even hold her hand in place for more than half a second, and the kunai came out. He dropped to his knees, huffing and panting loudly, holding his bleeding wound.

" Enough, you can't fight anymore!" Hibiki yelled, still doing his best to free himself. Hiroshi managed to damage hold of the solid earth mold that was holding him in place, but it wasn't enough to free him as of yet, with only his upper body freed. It was now highly unlikely that Hiroshi could even attempt another shot at it.

" Hell yes I can!" Hiroshi said, attempting to get up, before falling to his knees once more.

" Why do you try so hard? You know you can't win," Kaname said, licking her kunai that was now drenched in his blood.

" Because I need to...there is a need..." Hiroshi gasped.

" ...Why? He's not even from the same village..." Kaname argued.

" We don't look at it that way. As allies, we first must keep our side of the bargain. Whether the other side wishes to act the same or take advantage of our generosity, so be it, but we won't be taking the blame for being a hypocrite," Hiroshi answered, pushing himself up. " You think I like using puppets? It was because of these damn puppets that I lost my best friend years ago."

Hibiki wasn't too sure how to take this. He had always blamed the Leaf for taking away his parents and family, despite their strained relationship. He had never thought of what the Leafs might have thought about it. Yet, here Hiroshi stood, using a tool that killed his friend.

" Yeah, when the Sands sieged the Leafs those years ago, my friend died because of that. I watched him being cut down by these strange, yet dangerous contraptions. Yet, I still could find the heart to forgive him. I've learned that one should not hate someone else because you have to, or should. As shinobi, they were just doing their dues, their duty to their homeland, no matter how bad they may be, they were merely doing their duty. I tend to hate people on a personal basis, you know, after you get to know them...so I can't hate Hibiki...in fact, I kinda like him," Hiroshi replied.

Hibiki was, once more, loss for words. He blamed it on the fact that Hiroshi was loosing too much blood, that was why he was talking crap all of a sudden.

" I don't quite get what you are talking about," Kaname replied.

" There is no need for it," Hiroshi said. " But anyway, I did say I'd go out in a bang, correct?!"

All of a sudden, Hiroshi's puppet immediately blew up in a spectacular explosion all of a sudden. It engulfed the entire area in heat and flame, encompassing the whole forest ground with bright, orange light. Hibiki had to wince shield his eyes from the heat and the light produced. Hibiki deduced that there was more than 3 explosive tags involved, judging from the size of that blast, which now rend Hiroshi's newly made puppet to shreds and cinders.

Despite all the noise, confusion, and fire, Hiroshi somehow managed to sense Kaname leaping aside from the blast. In a way, he expected it anyway, so there was no worries.

He drew out another scroll from his pack, running his bloodied finger across the open piece of paper. He drew out another contraption, and a second later, shot it through the large wall of fire he had recently made.

Kaname managed to sense something coming her way. What looked like a large face flew towards his direction. It had large, beady looking eyes that were horribly painted red, either for effect, or the artist sucked at colouring. Metal strings burst all over the place, and the last thing Kaname saw was the entire wooden frame smash into her.


	27. Chapter 26: The Wind Walker

**Chapter 26: The Wind Walker**

Hibiki watched as Hiroshi hobbled over to where he was, bleeding from his sides. A trail of blood followed him from behind, dripping off his sides. Hibiki wasn't too sure whether the wound had hit anything critical or not. If Hiroshi continued any longer, he might just die from blood loss.

" You crazy fool! You have to stop that bleeding immediately!" Hibiki yelled.

" Can't...I doubt my puppet can hold her for long...I need to free you first..." Hiroshi said, gasping.

" Help yourself first!" Hibiki shot back.

" To do that, I need to help you first," Hiroshi answered.

Taking out a kunai and tagging it with an explosive note, Hiroshi moved over to one side of the earth mold and stuck the kunai several meters away, before moving off as fast as he could to the side. Hibiki winced as the explosive note went off, blowing up chunks of earth and rock all over the place. Cracks formed along the earth mold that held Hibiki in place, and with a little bit of a struggle, he broke free from his prison.

Gasping, Hiroshi collapsed down at the base of the nearest tree he could find, panting slightly in agony. Hibiki merely stepped over and looked down on him as he held his wound firmly, placing pressure upon it.

" Some help would be most appreciated," Hiroshi replied.

Hibiki knelt down next to him and took out a kunai from his pouch. Without hesitating, he ripped his sleeve apart, and using it as a bandage, tied it around Hiroshi's wound. Hiroshi gave a loud yelp when Hibiki tugged it too hard.

" Careful...I'm injured, you crazy Sand fool!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" You are the one who gotten yourself into this mess," Hibiki replied.

" So much for some gratitude after what I had done..." Hiroshi sighed as Hibiki tightened the knot around the wound. Hibiki looked up at him, raising his eyebrows as Hiroshi leaned back on the tree, too hurt and tired to move another inch for the moment. The wound was not serious once the bleeding was stopped.

" So, what you said earlier...was it true?" Hibiki asked.

" Huh? What?" Hiroshi asked, a little too dizzy to have paid too much attention.

" About that puppet thing that killed your friend," Hibiki pressed.

There was an awkward silence coming from Hiroshi, as if Hibiki had just stated something embarrassing for him to hear. Hiroshi dropped his mouth slightly, but nothing came out. " I...I was dizzy from the loss of blood. I probably said some incoherent things," he replied after a while.

" Yeah, that's what I thought..." Hibiki said, standing up. He looked at the remnants of the puppet that Hiroshi blew up. Nothing was left, except a large smoking crater that was burning in the middle. " However, I doubt that was the case. I doubt you'd say anything incoherent, given your nature, even when you are drunk."

Hiroshi didn't know what to say, and he hung his head in shame.

" There is no need to hang your head in shame," Hibiki replied. He flicked his spear slightly, retracting the sharpened edge out, the blade gleaming under the sun. " Well then, loser, stay here for a second while I deal with that troublesome lady."

" You... you are going after her alone?" Hiroshi asked.

" Please, don't compare me to your level," Hibiki replied scornfully. However, this time, there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice when he spoke, not malice. Hiroshi could not help but smile at him. " Us Sands are less fickle about this alliance shit, and I could care less about you really, but if there is something we are good at, is that we are good at repaying our debts."

" So, just sit back and relax, I'll be back shortly," Hibiki said, leaping up one of the branches.

-

Kaname just managed to untangle herself from the set of wires that held her in place when she heard something drop by from above her. Looking upwards, she spotted Hibiki standing arrogantly and proudly above one of the branches above her, his spear armed and ready in his hand, ready to strike like some bird of prey, its talons sharpened.

" So, you have come to find me personally, huh?" Kaname asked coyly.

" What the hell do you want with us?" Hibiki asked.

" Why don't you come along and you will find out?" Kaname suggested.

Hibiki took up his spear and braced himself, pointing the sharpened end towards her. " A tempting offer, but one I must refuse nonetheless. Besides, I'm here to repay my debt. You did quite a number on my friend back there," Hibiki replied.

" Oh, this should be fun," Kaname said, cracking her knuckles.

In one, quick swift motion, Hibiki disappeared from the branch, and was crouching down on the ground below the tree. His legs shot forward, firing him like a piston, as he flew forward with his spear raised towards Kaname's face. Kaname leaped aside to avoid the blow, and Hibiki's spear struck towards the side of her face. The attack came within less than a second.

_This guy is damn quick!_ Kaname thought.

Kaname dropped to her knees and slammed the palm of her hand on the ground. Hibiki was immediately thrown backwards as a powerful force knocked him backwards, the earth flipping over where he stood. He rolled backwards and got to his feet quickly, while Kaname leaped backwards and started to perform her jutsus by flipping her seals.

" Fine, let's see if you can beat my speed," Hibiki replied, tossing his spear into the air and flipping a set of seals himself.

When he was done, he clapped his hands together and collected chakra around his body. A collection of wind started to flow around his feet and arms. As he caught his falling spear, he controlled his chakra manipulation perfectly, and the weapon was suddenly surrounded in a shroud of wind energy.

" Earth Release: Striking Spire Technique!" Kaname exclaimed.

Large sharp spikes started to burst out from the ground itself. Hibiki merely leaped out of the way as spikes started to burst from the ground all around him. His speed and reflexes somehow allowed him to avoid all the attacks, slipping through the pillars of rocks around him. Passing through the rocks, he took aim, and dashed towards Kaname at top speed.

" Piercing Strike!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" Earth Release: Rock Wall Encampment Technique!" Kaname exclaimed.

Just before Hibiki managed to reach Kaname, a large square wall of rock suddenly placed itself in-between both of them, acting as a shield in front of Kaname. However, Hibiki was not detered. A mere rock wall cannot stop a weapon infused with the wind element, and he he trusted his spear forward, knowing his aim would still be true despite the hindrance.

And he was right. The mere wall could not stop his spear, and it sank into the wall. It merely sank through the wall like it was made of butter, and Hibiki barely had to put too much force to pierce the wall.

" Earth Release: Spike Trap Technique!"

" What the hell?!"

All of a sudden, from the rock wall itself, large spikes emerged all of a sudden, and aimed themselves towards Hibiki. Hibiki halted his advance immediately and pulled back, but he was still unable to avoid one of the spike from hitting his shoulder and the side of his leg. He hopped back, bleeding slightly but nonetheless quite unscathered. The earth wall broke, and he could see Kaname kneeling on the ground, her shoulder bleeding from being attacked by his spear.

" Not bad...you're pretty good..." Kaname said.

" Don't be too overconfident..." a voice replied behind her.

Spinning around in surprise, she spotted Hibiki standing right behind her. Reflexively, she swept her hands around towards his figure, but it merely passed though him as if he were made of nothing. " What? A mirage?" she asked, turning back, only to see Hibiki rushing towards her.

Furiously, Hibiki stabbed his spear into her, sinking into her chest. He felt some form of satisfaction as he managed to hit her, but his satisfaction soon turned into displeasure as Kaname's form suddenly turned brown and liquid, melting all over the place onto the ground.

" Damn mud clones!" Hibiki spat, trying to yank out his spear, only to find it stuck in the dirty, brown mess. " Shit!"

Kaname popped up from behind him, a kunai in her hand as she rose up to him. Hibiki was adamant in not releasing his spear, so he didn't move from his spot. He released his left hand grip and attempted to backhand Kaname, who approached him from behind, but he missed by a bit. Blasting chakra to his feet, he blew out a tremendous force, pulling his spear free and tossing him backwards several meters within a second, keeping his footing together quickly.

" Quick," Kaname commented.

" Always, bitch," Hibiki replied.

Hibiki pressed the attack, even being setback slightly, as he readied himself to strike once more. Kaname formed her seals quickly and slammed her hands to the ground once more to perform her earth elemental ninjutsus. Hibiki charged in, not bothering about the consequences when a large piece of earth burst out from beneath him.

Hibiki leaped back just in time, but Kaname had other ideas.

" Earth Release: Earth Shattering Hail Technique!"

The large piece of earth blew up all of a sudden, sending the chunks of rocks all over the place, raining down the area like large chunks of hail. Hibiki skidded to a halt and spun his spear around, knocking all the rocks aside. He felt his hands recoil slightly upon the impact of the rocks against his spear.

However, as soon as the hail of rocks was done, Hibiki noted that he was suddenly flanked by large boulders by his sides. The moment he noticed them, they started to fly towards him at tremendous speeds, threatening to smash him to bits. Kicking off, he shot backwards, missing the rocks as they smashed into one another, breaking into smaller bits. Through this curtain of rock, Kaname burst through, armed with a kunai.

In an instant, Hibiki bent his knees and shot forward, almost flying towards her, the wind around his legs propelling him forward as he thrusted his spear at her. Once more, it sank easily into her, but Hibiki sort of expected it anyway as he saw the clone dissolve into mud once more. As soon as that happened, he leaped up, expecting Kaname to use the Inner Decapitation Technique to catch him and pull him below.

Apparently he was mistaken.

Kaname suddenly appeared from one of the trees, jumping towards him. Hibiki attempted to change his direction in mid-air, but he was slightly too late as Kaname managed a mid-air tackle, grabbing him forcefully and slamming him back down upon the ground. Hibiki tried to turn around, but Kaname merely backhanded him right in his face, and pinned him to the ground.

" Don't bother..." Kaname said, pressing herself down upon him as she pinned him face down. Hibiki knew what she said was true. Despite being female, she was several years older than him, and when it came to size, he was still a mere 12 year old. It would be a waste of effort anyway, and she had a kunai pressed against his neck.

Hibiki sighed and relaxed.

" Good to see you calming down now," Kaname said.

" Oh, really?" Hibiki asked teasingly.

The instant he said that, he released his spear and allowed it to roll aside. With a flick of his finger, he attached a few chakra strings on his weapon, and in a split second, had it hovering in the air and shooting towards her, controlled like a puppet. Kaname saw it, and managed to roll away, escaping with a scratch on her face as Hibiki attempted to aim for her head. Once she moved, Hibiki got back up to his feet and grabbed his spear. Kaname tossed her kunai at him, but he merely knocked it away, using his spear to cut at it, the kunai split into two as it dropped to the floor. He pointed his weapon arrogantly at her, the tip surrounded in a sharp shroud of his wind element.

" You just don't know when to give up, do you?" Kaname sighed.

" It's you who don't know when to give up!" Hibiki spat back.

_It's time to think tactics here, _ Hibiki thought darkly. He wasn't one for using tactics. It was almost ingrained in him a long time ago to just go in, strike and get the hell out of the place as fast as you can. Now that he thought about it, he was quite similiar to that Leaf girl that he despised so much. _Damn it, why am I comparing myself to that lowlife scum of a Leaf?!_ Hibiki thought loudly.

Kaname has proven that she was adapt at blocking his attacks at best, and even if he was skilled enough to pierce through rocks, he still was just too slow to hit her. He might want to try breaking her down, stamina-wise, but she looked strong enough to take up his challenge in that particular field. Her rock-jutsu arsenal was also very extensive, so she might have a counter for all his moves, which although involve many sorts of variations, was just basically him moving at high speeds with a elementally enhanced weapon.

_Would using the WindWalk technique be risky in this situation?_ Hibiki thought. Most certainly. He wasn't in his best form, and the Wind Walk technique would drain him quickly of his chakra and stamina. But then again, the improved speed and attack would be a boost, and that might just be all he needed to cut through the solid defensive walls.

" Dang it, where's a soldier pill when you need it?" Hibiki muttered, tossing his spear upwards once more as he kept his hands free to form the seals. Kaname decided not to waste time for this attack. She slammed her fist on the ground once more, and the earth below Hibiki exploded into bits. However, he was not there anymore.

" Pfft...too slow, bitch," Hibiki replied, appearing right behind her upon one of the trees.

The basics for the Wind Walk technique was to surround the users entire body in a shroud of chakra filled wind energy, almost similar to using his body as a medium to channel this element. However, instead of using it as a weapon, he will use his body to achieve speeds he normally could not achieve. Wind manipulation in order to use it for transport would require his utmost concentration, as there are varying degrees on how to control it properly.

" Using ninjutsu just isn't my thing. Let's finish this quickly, shall we?" Hibiki replied.

Without further ado, Hibiki disappeared once more, or either that he moved so fast Kaname's eyes just wasn't quick enough to catch him. She only realised his presence as he skidded to a halt right behind her, his spear aimed high at her back. The instant he thrust forward, the instant she disappeared under the ground beneath them. She popped back up a distance away, her hands in the form of a seal.

" Earth Release: Ground Destruction Technique!"

Shards of rock started to burst out from everywhere, blasting here and there as Kaname attempted to strike Hibiki, but it was to no avail. Hibiki was just too fast or her attacks were just too slow. Hibiki merely did quick side-steps, his body fading along with his movements as he dashed in and out of all the rocks spires that burst out from the ground, as if it were a mere dodging game. His figure faded with each move, and each move brought him closer and closer to his target.

_No way...how can a mere genin move at such speeds_... Kaname thought, feeling alarmed. She quickly formed three seals and slammed both her palms on the ground. " Earth Release: Grand Destruction Blast!"

The area in which Hibiki stood suddenly blew up as the earth beneath him blasted out from the ground, as if she had set of several explosive notes below him. She was immediately covered in a wall of dust and dirt from the ground, but be just feeling the ground using chakra alone, she knew she did not hit him at all.

" Heads up!" Hibiki called out to her.

Looking upwards, she could see that Hibiki had somehow managed to jump up high enough in the air. Using his wind manipulation and the force of the blast, he managed to propel himself 50 feet into the air. He drew his hand back, his spear brimming with his chakra.

" Fang Missile!" he yelled as he threw his spear forward.

His spear shot forward like some sort of missile towards her. She reflexively ducked as the spear shot towards her. Her reflexes were quick enough, and the spear merely passed her head. But something told her that something was wrong already. There was no sound of the spear passing over her head, no rush of wind, nothing to indicate something just flew over her head.

" Dance of the Swallow!"

Kaname spun around to see him right behind her, only to disappear and appear right by her side. Whatever she saw 50 feet in the air was a mere fake, possibly his mirage again. _This...can't be possible..._she thought.

Hibiki wasted no time in striking her. His sharp end pierced her flesh, sinking deep into her upper chest. Kaname grabbed hold of the spear's shaft to stop it from further advancing into her, but having the upper hand, Hibiki pushed her backwards almost effortlessly, slamming her into a tree. He yanked out his weapon, the blade tearing out of her flesh. Kaname wailed in pain, before settling down, taking long, deep breaths.

" It's over...I win," Hibiki replied.

" ...Well, wasn't that surprising..." Kaname replied.

He suddenly leveled his spear right at her face, the bloodied end pointing towards the middle of her eyes. He stared at her coldly, panting heavily after exerting himself so much, and demanded " Why...are you after us?"

" Because...we were asked to..." Kaname replied, grinning at him. Not out of malice, but of amusement.

" Why?!" Hibiki demanded.

" ...Beats me..." Kaname replied. Hibiki pressed the edge of his spear against her forehead. It still didn't get any reaction. Kaname merely looked at him passively, as if nothing had really happened between them. As if she was looking happily at a total stranger.

Hibiki took a deep breath, and lowered his spear. A streak of lightning flashed across the sky, and a loud boom of thunder followed it quickly. Soon, rain began to fall, washing off the blood and dirt that covered them both.

" You aren't going to kill me?" Kaname asked.

" I don't have time to bother with you. Besides, you did at least wanted to spare my friend. This will be the only favour I'm returning," Hibiki said. Keeping his spear back on its slot on his back, he turned around to walk back to where Hiroshi was, hoping nobody else had managed to find him during his absence. " My job here is done anyway..."

-

" You are back!" Hiroshi exclaimed excitedly as he saw Hibiki made his way back. Hiroshi managed to fix his messy bandages to stop most of the bleeding, and was now attempting to stand after leaning on a tree trunk.

" Of course, don't compare me to your level. I'm far more advanced in that department," Hibiki said, dropping right beside him. " How's the wound?"

" I'm fine. I think after a bit of rest, I can move," Hiroshi answered, wincing. He tried getting up, only to feel a shot of pain by his side and fall back onto the tree trunk. Hiroshi saw Hibiki shaking his head at his pathetic attempt, making 'tch'ing noises with his tongue.

" I don't know what Suzumi sees in you," he muttered.

Hiroshi paused at the comment, wondering if his ears were deceiving him. " ...What did you say...?" Hiroshi asked.

" Nothing, punk...don't ask anymore," Hibiki quickly replied.

" What's she to you?" Hiroshi asked, clearly interested.

" ...What the hell do you mean?"

" I mean, what is she to you?" Hiroshi asked once more. Hibiki took a deep breath, and looked very close to going into a tirade on how to be less tact, but he didn't. He merely sighed, and sat down next to Hiroshi, tired after his fight and having the need to recouperate his energies after the skirmish.

" She's important, but not someone I would really want a relationship with...don't get me wrong, I love her, but this will be more like a brother and sister relationship, nothing more," Hibiki sighed.

Hiroshi paused for a while, thinking of what to say. After a while, he asked " So, what did she say?"

_Writer's notes: Someone posed this question before, and I never got to addressing it as a whole. Hibiki's Windwalk ability wraps him in an envelope of wind element chakra, giving him access to move at insane speeds by bursting wind to his feet. I never specified, but he also uses the wind to silence his movements, so he can move without being detected too easily. I sort of thought it up, trying to give Hibiki some sort of assassination technique._


	28. Chapter 27: The Blind Sand

**Chapter 27: The Blind Sand**

" Damn, I can't seem to contact them at all," Ryouta exclaimed in slight frustration as both him and Makoto leaped through the forest, jumping from branch to branch as they made their way north towards where Sora and Suzumi were. Ryouta had tried multiple times to contact them, but to no avail, and he felt a little worried.

" Well, that's to be expected," Makoto replied.

" Do you think they will be alright?" Ryouta asked.

" We can hope that the enemy will stay true to their objective. As far as our senseis have told us, they want us. I doubt that they would kill Sora and Suzumi if they were interested in them in the first place...although it's hard to say for Sora's case," Makoto replied.

Both of them continued for a while, moving quickly in silence.

" Why are our senseis doing this, using us as bait?" Ryouta asked.

" Perhaps it's the only way they can flush out insects like these. Bait is always a good way to trap what you desire. They must have confidence in our abilities in using us as bait, if not they would not have agreed to such a proposal," Makoto replied.

" Well, let's hope you are right," Ryouta replied.

Only Ryouta and Makoto were privy to what actually was their real mission this time. The Sand had yet to gain any clue or advancement in the case of Maya and what she and her henchmen were up to. However, missions involving genins could not be put on a standstill since the economy of the country still needs to be maintained. The Sand tactical team had decided that the best way to deal with this problem is to lure Maya out once more, and to to that, they would need bait. Obviously, the bait would have to be what she was after: them.

The only people in the area were just the six genins, Shikamaru and Temari. Even at top speed, the back-up ANBU squad would arrive in a minimum time of half an hour. Given that Shikamaru managed to transmit a signal on time to the waiting troops far of, who were stationed far away to avoid Maya getting suspicious, they still had twenty minutes to go. If they can somehow survive for twenty more minutes, everything would be alright.

Well, considering that their entire strike force comprised of 6 genins and two jounin senseis, it might not bode too well.

" Are you worried?" Makoto asked.

" Of course I am," Ryouta replied.

" So am I, but don't worry about it and just focus on the matter at hand. Suzumi is a smart girl, and with Sora around, she can stand her ground along with that fiery teammate of yours. The only person I would be worried about is Hiroshi, but he has surprised me too often with his skill. With Hibiki around, he should do fine," Makoto replied.

" Really?"

" You may think otherwise, but among us six, Hibiki is the most capable fighter there is," Makoto answered.

Ryouta was quite surprised, and rather unconvinced about this. " What? I thought you were the real deal in your team," Ryouta replied.

" I may beat Hibiki in terms of knowledge, street-smarts, and all-round knowhow, but when it comes to sheer fighting prowess, Hibiki is the best there is," Makoto answered " If I'm the best ninjutsu expert and Suzumi is the best genjutsu expert, he's the best taijutsu expert, and trust me, he's already beaten me in a one on one contest."

" ...But you seem to be the natural leader of your team," Ryouta replied.

" Leaders don't need to necessarily be the best fighter there is, as history has proven. They are remarkable, but not always the best," Makoto replied.

" Once again, proved wrong by the blind guy," Ryouta replied.

Both of them stopped immediately all of a sudden, scanning the surrounding area. They have reach the edge of the parameter where Hiroshi had set all his traps. Going any further would mean that they would have to walk through a minefield of sorts. However, this was the supposed meeting place where Sora and Suzumi were supposed to be, but they could not been seen. Both of them were not surprised, since there was an evidence of a struggle taking place, with damaged barks and broken brnaches.

" Makoto..." Ryouta replied.

" Due east...looks like they still are in trouble..." Makoto said, cupping his ears.

" But we've got a problem right now," Ryouta replied.

As soon as he finished his sentence, both of them leaped away. The instant they moved, the branch right beneath them exploded in a loud bang, blowing off its hinges and breaking into splinters. Both of them hit upon the sides of opposite trees, sticking to the trunk as they turned around.

" You are right, we've got company," Makoto replied.

Right behind them was a foreign shinobi who had a face mask on. He was dressed in a thick vest, with paddings all over his body, with bandages wrapped around his wrists. He stared at them menacingly as he pulled out three kunais from his weapon pouch, preparing himself.

" Damn it, looks like our visitors just dropped by," Ryouta said, clapping his hand together to form the Tiger seal. " Why don't we both give him a warm welcome, huh Makoto?"

" There is no need for that. I'll deal with him alone," Makoto replied.

" What?!" Ryouta exclaimed.

" A little too cocky, aren't you, for a little brat?" th guy replied harshly.

" Sora and Suzumi are due east, and it feels like they are in trouble. Go help them...I can handle this jackass myself," Makoto replied.

" But you..."

" Go."

" But..."

" Go now!" Makoto exclaimed, raising his voice.

Ryouta stared at him, feeling confused and uncertain. However, after a while, he leaped over to where Makoto was standing and slapped his back. " Keep your head up. We'll need to do more discussions later when we go back," Ryouta said, grinning slightly as he leaped away.

The man immediately leaped to attack, not wanting Ryouta to get away, but Makoto stepped in to halt the attack. He parried the blow the enemy threw at him, catching his hand deftly and blocking the attack. Makoto heard a swift movement somewhere, and made a back-flip just in time to avoid getting hit by three on-coming kunais. Makoto hit the floor and heard his enemy land somewhere in front of him.

There was the sound of footsteps, then a swing of someones arm. Makoto raised his hand in an instant to block the attack, slamming against his fist. He pulled his left leg backwards as he attempted to sweep his legs, missing by an inch. He pulled out a kunai in time as the man struck, parrying the blow, striking upwards to deflect a vertical strike before dropping low to block an uppercut. Both of them kicked back to gain some space.

" Not bad...for a blind guy," the man replied.

" 5 feet 2, slightly muscular, but not quite, with sharp reflexes, knows a mix of ninjutsu and taijutsu. Has a total of 20 shurikens, 6 kunais, and a set of wire in your weapon pouch," Makoto said, before breaking into a grin. " I think I'm doing splendidly for a blind guy."

" You won't be that cocky once I strike you down," the man exclaimed.

Makoto frowned as he drew out a kunai, attached to a explosive note. Tossing it forward, it blew up right in front of Makoto, the deafening roar silencing the area for a while. Makoto leaped backwards, only to feel something move in from his right.

Makoto was barely able to duck from the attack, dropping low to miss the blow from above. The man had suddenly appeared all of a sudden at his sides. He used the sound of the blast to cover his tracks. As smart move, but if Makoto could still evade him even after being temporarily deafened, he wasn't going to get anywhere with this, since he had a limited amount of explosive notes anyway.

Makoto kicked himself upwards and prepped his jutsu. " Wind Release: Wind Bullet!" he exclaimed as he spat out a blast of wind from his mouth. The man merely leaped backwards, the blast hitting the floor and kicking up wind.

_He's too fast for my ninjutsu...in terms of stamina, he might just beat me to it...I still need to garner an advantage here..._ Makoto thought. He scanned his ears around, wondering what to do. Ryouta had managed to head east. Both Hibiki and Hiroshi were probably heading from the west side, unless they were somehow attacked. Nothing at the north or south...

Makoto thought for a while..._north?_

An idea suddenly occurred to him. Just some distance up north, Hiroshi had previously set his traps, and by all means, they should still be in effect. If Makoto could lure this man into the field of traps, Hiroshi's traps may just slow him down enough to give Makoto the opportunity. However, it was quite risky as well. After all, Makoto couldn't see the traps.

" But I'm a gambling man," Makoto said to himself, grinning all of a sudden.

The man looked at him as he kicked off, heading off north. As expected, the man gave chase, hot on Makoto's heels. Makoto can play with his carelessness. He focused his chakra to his ears, which amplified the sound waves his eardrums could receive to superhuman levels.

The vibrations that he received acted like some sort of radar transmission bats use, except of a much higher level. Right now, Makoto had an entire mental picture of the area around him, his ear catching every vibration of the place. He could 'see' around a 50 feet radius, with minute detail included. Hiroshi's traps could all be seen, but Makoto doubted that his ability could see all the traps. Least he now knew some of their locations. All he needed was to strike.

Makoto did a backflip, and while he did that, flicked out two shurikens from his weapon pouch and flung them towards two, almost invisible wires on the ground.

The shinobi saw what he did, and heard a snap somewhere. He managed to stop just in time as a hail of shurikens suddenly dropped from above him. As soon as he did that, a powerful gust of wind exploded from his side. The shinobi leaped aside, avoiding the blow, but he somehow unintentionally stepped on another string of wire. A set of garrote wires whipped around as he ducked, sinking into the bark of a tree nearby.

" Traps?" the man exclaimed. " Since when did he...?"

As Makoto stopped himself, he felt his leg brush up against something. He managed to stop himself before a set of spikes dropped down from above him, just missing his back by an inch. Makoto looked awkwardly at the man, who looked strangely at him back.

" I see...your friends had set a few toys before...too bad you don't know where they are exactly," the guy replied, grinning.

" Yeah, but at least I know where half of them are," Makoto replied.

Makoto flipped a few seals, then held out his right hand's index and middle finger together. There was a familiar surge of chakra in his hands, and he could feel the wind collect in his palm. Soon, the wind blade was ready, and it was ready to cut.

Both of them kicked off at once, dashing aside, not too bothered about the traps Hiroshi had already laid out. Makoto placed his steps properly, calculating the angle and the distance. He twisted around and shifted his weight, sending him towards his enemy. However, his enemy did a peculiar thing: he whistled.

" Argh, shit!" Makoto exclaimed as he suddenly grabbed his ears and attempted to shut them tight.

" I said don't be too cocky," a voice replied. Makoto turned around, only to see the shinobi standing right behind him. With a quick wave of his hand, he had managed to slash Makoto's chest wide open, except instead of blood, sand started pouring out of his body.

A figure burst out all of a sudden from the ground, and whipping around, Makoto launched his hand forward as the shinobi leaped back. He didn't manage to jump back in time to avoid the blow entirely, as Makoto's wind blade cut through his vest, sending blood spurting all over the place. Makoto grinned at his target, who was now holding down his wound, applying pressure to the cut.

--

" So, you haven't exactly explained how we can defend against genjutsu," Hibiki sighed, as they continued down the street, feeling a bit hungry from all the talk. They were now looking around for snacks to eat after their morning training together while continuing their earlier discussion on defending against genjutsu.

" In order to know how to defend against genjutsu, you must know how it works. Can either of you two boys explain to me the mechanics of genjutsu?" Suzumi asked in a cute, sweet fashion. Both of them attempted to avoid blushing upon that sentence.

" The basic principle of genjutsu is to fool your opponent in believing something false which is projected to him. Classic way of doing this was to fool him by altering his surroundings, or trick his vision manually. However, with recent advances in jutsus, we do that by messing around with his chakra system. This, of course, takes a considerable amount of skill. Easiest way to do it is either through a medium where ones chakra has been inserted, and placed as a trap, either in a seal or manual trap that can transmit chakra, which then can be inserted into the intended target, or by touching the person himself. The much more difficult way is to transmit ones chakra over a distance through air or space to enter the target itself. This can be done by using the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch," Makoto explained.

" Go on," Suzumi prompted.

" Genjutsu is executed by messing around with the opponents chakra system. When the chakra highway goes awry, one can easily manipulate the enemy into thinking of other stuff. This can cause illusions, either physically or mentally, towards the person. Depending on the level of chakra control, we can determine how much powerful the genjutsu we cast. A more powerful genjutsu may work wonders, but it will also signal to the enemy that he is in a genjutsu. A less potent genjutsu needs more subtle attacks, but the enemy might not realise that he is under the attack of a genjutsu," Hibiki continued.

" Brilliant!" Suzumi exclaimed.

" This still doesn't explain how the heck should we defend against genjutsu," Hibiki said.

" Ah, but the basic concept is still necessary," Suzumi replied. " You see, in order to disrupt the chakra that is disrupting your system, the easiest way is to break the cycle. Best way is to insert chakra into the chakra system in your body to break it. This, of course, is easily done by having a companion break it for you, thus, when facing a genjutsu opponent, it's always best to face it with another person."

" Except this can't always apply," Hibiki replied.

" So then, we go to the next step on how to defend against genjutsu. First, you can break it yourself, either by using your own chakra to break the cycle, which is difficult since almost all genjutsu disrupts your chakra system, making it difficult to break out in this manner, or to inflict pain, for the pain receptors will signal to your brain something is wrong. Usually if you can charge a sizable amount of chakra throughout your body, you can break it, but that's hard."

" Second method, which is arguably the best, is by not getting hit by genjutsu, at all."

" Brilliant...how exactly, do we do that?" Hibiki asked.

" Well then, you will need to know how to defend yourself against genjutsu, and know how to actively avoid it," Suzumi replied.

Both Makoto and Hibiki looked at each other oddly. " ...How, exactly?" Hibiki asked.

" The easiest way to avoid getting affected by genjutsu is by to avoid getting affected by it. This can be done by messing around with your chakra system..."

" ...What?"

" Messing your chakra system. Since genjutsu invovles your opponent trying to mess around your chakra system. It would be much more difficult for your enemy to take control your your chakra system if they are not the norm. The chakra flows around your body's chakra lines just like blood flowing through your veins. However, since chakra can be much more freely controled by your nervous systems, and the flow can be altered slightly according to your control. With a different set of chakra movement in your body, it would be much more difficult for your opponent to take control your body," Suzumi explained.

" However, there is a flaw in messing up your chakra. Disturbing your chakra from the norm will cause problems with your bodies. For example, let's say if you alter your chakra movement of your entire body by 20 percent, you will recieve a total of 20 percent resistance against genjutsu attacks, but you will reduce your total motor and sensory skills by 20 percent. Messing up your chakra system totally will give you total defense against genjutsu attacks, but you will reduce all your motor and sensory skills to zero," Suzumi said.

" Sounds...lousy," Hibiki replied.

" It depends on how you mess up your chakra, since you can be specific about it. Let's say you know that your opponent is about to use sound genjutsu, so if you mess up your sound sensory systems by 20 percent, you get a 20 percent resistance against the genjutsu itself, but since you are only messing with your sound sensory systems, that's only about messing with less than 1 percent of your entire motor systems in your body," Suzumi explained.

" So, it's always good to know what the hell your opponent is using," Makoto replied.

" Of course, genjutsu is all about tricking people...cunning is of importance," Suzumi answered.

" Wait, how much resistance is 20 percent resistance?" Hibiki asked.

" Hmm, let's say if I hit you with my genjutsu, you'd need 40 percent...roughly...or more?" Suzumi answered.

" So, it still sucks?" Hibiki asked.

" What's the second method?" Makoto asked.

--

If genjutsu involves tricking one of the five main senses a person has, than that can be overcome by just shutting down one of his sensory organs. Makoto knew that very well since he was young. Being blinded made him reliant on his ears, and being reliant on his ears made him vulnerable to anything that was sound based. For that specific reason, Makoto had learned a jutsu to deal with that problem. It was called the 'Sensory Sealing Technique'. All he had to do was to use chakra to block his sensory organs, in this case, his ear. Once done, he would be deaf. Same basic principle as his eyes. Since he can't see, he can't be affected by sight genjutsu.

There were other methods in seeing. For example: smell.

Makoto stepped forward immediately. The enemy raised his arm, and kunai in his hand, but Makoto merely caught it deftly. The person could see the thin layer of sand armour that Makoto had placed upon himself, the armour cracking slightly once sliced but nothing further. Makoto flicked his leg and dropped a hidden kunai from beneath his feet, stepping upon the person, stabbing his foot and sinking the kunai through. The shinobi raised his other hand, but Makoto merely raised his hand and lifted his forehead protector, revealing his eyes.

The man stopped once he saw them, the sickly, yellow colours balls in their sockets. This genjutsu always works. His discoloured and diseased eyes were always an attraction to people, and once they looked, they usually never take their eyes off it. Makoto would then start to project fear into the enemy, sending a killing intent straight towards them. The shinobi was paralyzed upon looking at Makoto, his 'Medusa's Eyes', as Suzumi liked to call them.

" Can't move..." Makoto replied, grinning as he looked at his paralyzed opponent. " Too bad."

_This level of killing intent...how could it possibly come from a genin..._the shinobi thought, too paralyzed by fear to move.

He flicked his free hand and tossed several shurikens to the side to snap several threads Hiroshi had place. In an instant, both of them were immediately showered in a hail of weapons, the sharp blades sinking into both of them. However, for Makoto's case, since he was covered in an armour of sand, the weapons merely stuck at the exterior of his body, while he calmly watched his opponent bleed to death with all the injuries he had sustained.

He dropped the forehead protector over his eyes once more, since they were vulnerable to light and they would hurt if they were exposed for too long. They weren't needed anymore. The match was already over.

_Writer's note: Added some extra explanations on how I think, not Kishimoto, genjutsu works to a deeper degree. Also, I'm not sure if the Sand have an ANBU division, or whether they are called ANBU if they have something similar, but I just named them ANBU for convenience sake. _


	29. Chapter 28: The Flame Shinobi

**Chapter 28: The Flame Shinobi**

Ryouta leaped downwards from the tree, his shinobi blade flashing as a flash of lightning ran across the sky, illuminating his figure in a dark, shadowy glow. As soon as thunder struck, Ryouta landed with perfect precision on the man's chest, his blade sinking deep into his upper chest. The shinobi stared at him in utter amazement and confusion as blood spurted out from his wound like some geyser, showering the area in his blood. As he collapsed upon the ground, rain started to fall all around them, soon enough soaking Ryouta's attire and washing away the superficial blood stains.

" Suzumi, are you alright?" Ryouta asked, pulling out his blade from the fallen enemy.

" I...urm..." Suzumi gasped, holding her stomach in pain.

" I'm sorry if I startled you," Ryouta immediately replied, standing up and walking towards her.

" No...it's alright..." Suzumi replied, looking in a startled manner at the now dead man that was bleeding right in front of them. It wasn't that she was not thankful for Ryouta arriving on time, but more towards him being as ruthless as her two other teammates were.

She tried to get up, but the pain was getting to her, and she collapsed upon the floor. Ryouta moved up instantly towards her side, holding her and supporting her. " You are hurt," he stated the obvious.

" I'll be fine," she replied, gasping slightly for air.

" Where's Sora?" Ryouta asked.

" Looking for her?" a female voice asked coyly.

Ryouta spun around, his body tensing and his arms balled up in a fist. Right above one of the trees stood Maya, her spiky red hair standing all the way up, making her look like some oddly displaced punk. Just right below her looked like a wooden cocoon stuck into place at the base of the trunk, and within that cocoon was Sora, her entire body encased in the wooden contraption, with only her head sticking out.

" What have you done with her?!" Ryouta exclaimed angrily.

" Nothing much...I just kept her safe, that's all," Maya exclaimed.

" Let her go!" Ryouta yelled, feeling the blood pump into his head.

" Which one?" Maya cooed.

In the next instant, he heard a yell right behind him, and spinning around, he saw another figure of Maya leap right next to him, grabbing the injured Suzumi by her waist, who was too hurt to put up much of a fight. Before Ryouta could react, Maya pinned Suzumi on the trunk of a tree, and pressed some kind of a device upon her chest. The device sprung open, and a large cocoon, just like the one that held Sora in place, encompassed Suzumi instantly, locking her in place.

" Suzumi!" Ryouta exclaimed.

" Tsk, tsk, tsk...it's just you and me now..." Maya replied.

" Release her!" Ryouta said, pointing a finger threateningly towards her.

" Oh, and pray tell me, what are you going to do about it?" Maya asked.

Rain started to pour right now, and soon enough, all of them were cold and drenched in the afternoon rain that poured down from the sky. Ryouta could feel the ominous cold water splash down upon him, sending cold chills down his body as the water soaked through his attire. He wasn't too sure what to do now. He was facing what was presumably the ringleader, from what Shikamaru had told him, and he definitely was way below her level plus with two of his comrades captured, this did not bode well.

" Shall we play, Ryouta?" Maya asked.

" ...You know my name...?"

" Why shouldn't I? I know all about you," Maya replied. " I know for the fact that you aren't from the Leaf village, but a mere by-product they picked up after a team passed through the Rain village. That the 31st of December isn't your real birthday, but just the date given to you as a birthday, which was the exact same day they found you. Blood type O, and you like eating all sorts of things."

"...Who the hell are you? How the hell do you know all this?!" Ryouta demanded. Suzumi merely looked at the exchanged, rather confused at what was going on. Ryouta's heart was racing. _How does she know so much? Has she infiltrated the Leaf to look at my profile to disturb my mind?_

" Why don't you come with me, and I'll tell you everything I know," Maya suggested. It wasn't an order or a threat, but an offer.

" You are lying...there is no way you know anything..."

" Really?!" Maya asked, interrupting him. " Then tell me how do I know you seem to have this eccentric obsession with looking at the midnight sky?"

Ryouta's blood almost froze upon hearing her mention that. It was just so absurd, but there she was, speaking about it. Nobody knew about it, only his teammates and his newly found Sand comrades. Even he did not confide to Shikamaru about this. There was no way Maya could have found out about it just in an instant. He had heard rumours about genjutsu surpassing the normal level that they could trick enemies into revealing their thoughts, but this is just way beyond anything realistic.

" ...This can't be true..." Ryouta mumbled.

" I know you better than anyone else. Come with me, and I will answer everything you need to know," Maya replied.

" ...No..." Ryouta replied.

" Of course you want to know. Your real name is Masaki Kazuki..."

" No..."

" Born slightly premature..."

" No."

" Elemental affinity: fire, but can still freely manipulate other elements...almost at will."

" Enough!"

" Your true allegiance belongs to..."

Ryouta didn't wait for Maya to finish. He formed his seals so fast Suzumi thought he just merely breathed out fire. He fired a huge fireball at Maya, the ball hitting the branch she was standing on and bursting into flames in a bright, big explosion. Maya merely landed several meters away, unharmed.

" Silence, you foul woman! I shall hear no more of your lies!" Ryouta said, clapping his hands together. Ryouta knew that there was no way in hell he could ever hope of beating Maya, perhaps only if she was weakened or wounded, but he had to try. His comrades were at stake here, and he would have to risk everything. Even if he failed, then he would attempt to buy more time for them, for either Shikamaru, Temari, or the Sand forces to arrive. Either way, a fight was at hand, and he was ready for it.

Ryouta dug into his pocket and pulled out a soldier pill and popped it into his mouth, biting it hard. As soon as the pill dropped down into his digestive system, he started to feel his body heat up, as if he was about to light up on fire. Chakra was now surging through his body, and he could feel it's immense power running through him. Very slowly and carefully, he formed all the twelve seals in a specific order, ending with the Tiger seal. Once done, he clapped his hands once, and braced himself.

All of a sudden, there was a collection of intense chakra within the palm of his hands. The collection of chakra was so intense that it started to spark, and then caught fire, flames licking his palms as they burned with intense fury. Not even the rain could hamper or extinguish the fiery flames, turning into steam the instant the droplets touched his hands. Ryouta looked like some furious reaper of sorts, his flaming and steaming hands emphasising his looks.

" You want to attack with a couple of flaming fists? You might want to try better than that," Maya suggested.

Ryouta didn't reply. He merely took a deep breath and breathed out fire from his mouth. Neither Suzumi or Maya needed to be told that this attack was different from all the other fireballs he shot out before. This shot felt like it had more power, more intensity, more...chakra.

The flame shot out faster than normal, shooting out like a jet. Maya ducked at rolled out of the way just in time, but the flames, despite being so far away, heated her surroundings like it was caustic. Ryouta fired another immediately, a smaller one, yet one that looked really intense. Maya leaped away as it hit the spot where she stood, blowing up as if Ryouta threw an explosive note.. The concentration and intensity of his chakra powered fire shot was not to be underestimated.

" What the hell did you just do?!" Maya exclaimed, totally surprised.

" Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" Ryouta snarled back.

Maya's reaction was slightly disturbing. From the way her eyes widened and the grin that crept upon her face, she seemed to be pleased that Ryouta had gotten such an advantage over her, although honestly, he wasn't sure what kind of advantage this would yield.

" Fire Release: Immortal Phoenix Technique...that's the name for my technique," Ryouta replied.

Ryouta wasn't too sure where he got the idea from, but it was after some long hard time researching on how fire jutsus work. Almost the majority of the seals done to perform fire seals was in order to start a fire where the user could manipulate as a weapon. If this seals could be surpassed, than it would save the user a lot of time and effort.

Ryouta figured he could bypass almost all of the sealing methods by just keeping a flame alight, and this technique does just that. After he was done with his seals, he could coat his palms with a layer of chakra, and burn it, the chaka feeding the fuel to the flame. Not only can he forcefully intensify his attacks due to the concentration of chakra on his palms, he can, in a technical sense, perform any fire jutsu at will with little or no seals at all. It would be the perfect fire jutsu, if not for the insane amount of chakra it drains from him. Even after taking the soldier pill just moments before, Ryouta could already feel his energy level dropping dramatically, not enough for him to feel fatigued, but enough to tell him that he won't last too long with this technique.

He took a deep breath, and breathed out an enormous volley of flame. The fire licked the surrounding area in an instant, blackening and burning away anything in its path. Maya jumped aside playfully, dodging his attacks, as if playing with him, telling him that his attacks, even though much more dangerous now, were still of no harm to her. Still Ryouta pressed on, breathing out flame after flame from his mouth, like some voracious dragon of sorts, the rain doing little to dampen his efforts.

Ryouta slammed his fists on the ground, blowing up a hole in the middle of the ground and disappearing underneath the earth's surface. Maya only saw a smoking crater where Ryouta once stood. A second later, she leaped up high as the ground beneath her exploded, blowing up chunks of fiery rocks and ash. However, Ryouta didn't emerge from the tunnel created.

" A feint..." Maya replied, turning around just in time to see Ryouta burst out from the ground right behind her, his hands burning brightly. She whipped her hand around to counter the attack, but touching Ryouta's hands now was equivalent to touching heated metal. Her skin sizzled as Ryouta raised his hands to block her strike, recoiling instantly due to the pain.

Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Ryouta leaped forward, his arms stretched out to strike at Maya. Maya ducked, but barely missed as Ryouta slammed his hands upon the trunk of the tree that was behind her. The moment his hands made contact with the trunk, the flames exploded into a bright, fiery blast, sending flames shooting out all over the place. Maya rolled out of the way, the flames searing her back.

" Dang it," Ryouta spat, angry that he missed. Not that he wasn't expecting her to dodge the attack, but for the fact that he missed that he was pissed at himself. The most he had done was to give a painful burn on her hand.

However, something did occur to him. If the information was correct, Maya's rank was, or at least combat-wise, of a jounin, but her reactions doesn't seem so. She seemed a little sluggish in her movements, as if she was tired already. Ryouta gave a quick study n his opponent. Maya seemed to look slightly dirtied, with her attire slightly in a mess with scraps and cuts here and there.

_Did this mean that she was involved in a fight before she came here looking for them? If so who did she fight?,_ Ryouta thought, before a sudden, chilling thought went through his head. _If she indeed was involved in a fight, then she must have won, or else she wouldn't be here!_

Ryouta tried to not to think about it too much. It felt detrimental to his morale.

He continued to charge at her, the rain pelting his face as the storm grew heavier. He fired a quick fireball at her, aiming at her feet. The moment she jumped, he aimed upwards and breathed out a heavy stream of fire right at her face. Ryouta merely caught out of the corner of his eye some movement with her hands, and a second later, she seemed to disappear stood right next to him. She flicked a kunai at his face, but he merely caught it with his bare hands, the metal glowing red due to the heat in his hands as he held the metal piece in place, throwing it aside later, steam forming as the rain hit the superheated metal.

" I can see that you are in pain...stop that technique before you wear yourself out," Maya suggested.

Ryouta knew what she was taking about. He could feel his hands shaking terribly due to the amount of stress he was pushing his body to perform. He was burning away his chakra supply quickly, and his hands felt numb against the strain of pushing so much chakra out from his points. Yet, he could not falter, not yet.

He looked up at the pouring rain, and the steaming flames on his hands. The Phoenix was not down yet, because in theory, the Phoenix can't die.

" Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Ryouta fired a shot towards Maya, who once again, predictably, leaped aside. The compact ball of fire hit the ground she was standing upon, and exploded in a tremendous bang, blowing up the area in smoke and flame, the heavy rain unable to dose the raging fire. Ryouta shot forward, using the external stream of fire to propel himself forward. Maya leaped backwards and performed her jutsu.

" Wind Release: Cyclone Blast!"

" Fire Release: Phoenix Pillar!"

As Maya shot a blast of wind traveling at supersonic speeds, Ryouta spun around, his hands outstretched and flames bursting from his fingertips. Blasting out flames from his fingertips, he wrapped himself in a cone of fire, whirling around in a violent vortex of heat and fire. The wind blast hit his vortex, but merely dissipated as the pillar of flames licked at the wind, consuming it and building up in size and power, the flames wrapping around and destroying the jutsu itself. When the flames died, the first thing Maya noticed was that Ryouta was missing from his spot.

She whipped around to her right, only to see him jump out from the side. She had no idea how he had managed to travel that fast, but it was of no matter right now, because of a sudden, Ryouta blew up in a powerful explosion.

Suzumi screamed when she saw that, thinking that Ryouta had gone suicidal when he had done that, but it was not true. As Maya stumbled out from beyond the fire, her attire burnt and her body scared, Ryouta burst right out from the ground, his flaming hands like torches.

" Flame clones are fun, aren't they?" he asked sarcastically, throwing her a punch in the face. Using condensed flames, he could create a clone of himself and send it towards the enemy. The unknowing enemy would them be greeted by an explosive bang when he released the clone, spewing flames all over the place.

Maya tried to block the attack, but the heat in his hands proved too much to handle, and she leaped backwards, recoiling in pain as his arms struck hers. The instant she leaped backwards, Ryouta took a deep breath, but this time, he didn't breath out a powerful jet of fire.

Instead, he started to blow out superheated steam, his flame mixed with the moisture the rain has created. Maya saw a thin, grayish mist flying towards her direction, moving faster than his usual breaths of fire. Fire and water made a powerful combination. Water, in the form of steam, moved much faster than shooting out flames, and the heat transfer was almost instantaneous. Maya found herself instantly engulfed in a wall of steam. If she didn't take massive heat damage after this, Ryouta would be very surprised. Ryouta blew out a bit more steam, and allowed it to linger around the area she stood within.

" I...I...I thought you couldn't do water manipulation. That was the only element you couldn't manipulate as of yet..." Suzumi muttered, staring in awe.

" I still can't. I'm merely using the rain now to my advantage," Ryouta said.

The steam cleared immediately as the rain took away all the heat, but Ryouta didn't like what he saw. Maya had somehow managed to surround her body in ice, freezing the moisture and keeping her body icy cool as the steam passed over on the outside. It shattered as she moved about, casually brushing off the shards of ice still stuck upon her body.

" ...No shit..." Ryouta gasped.

" Come now, a mere genin beating a jounin. I don't think Konoha is that much talented, don't you think?" Maya said, smiling coyly. She had every reason to do so. Ryouta felt the flames in his hand started to dwindle as his chakra supply started to drain out. Keeping his Immortal Phoenix Technique in effect any longer would slowly kill him by depleting his energy supply. Ryouta was now gasping heavily for breath. He felt cold all of a sudden, as if heat was seeping out of his body constantly.

" Well, I guess this is the end," Maya replied.

In an instant, she took a step, which carried her several feet towards Ryouta, her outstretched arms hitting him on his shoulders and his neck, toppling him painfully on the ground. Ryouta winced in pain as he felt the impact, but it was nothing he could not withstand. Maya didn't want to capture him using such straightforward methods before, just in case he burned her terribly with his technique.

Which was just perfect for him.

With the last ounce of his chakra, he charged his chakra right back up towards his hands, the intensity that collected build up at such a rate they just combusted within seconds. Maya's eyes widened in shock as she saw them light up once more. " A fitting name for the technique, isn't it?" Ryouta asked, before shooting his hands right up, grabbing her neck and her vest.

Pushing out his chakra, he allowed his flames to engulf her body, to use it as fuel, to smother her in flames, to continuously burn. Soon, Maya's entire body was covered in flames, burning like some everlasting torch. Maya was immolated in an instant, and her entire body burned brightly under the cloudy, rainy sky. Ryouta threw her blacked out body aside, then slowly got to his feet, totally exhausted from the entire ordeal.

" Ryouta...you did it! You really did it!" Suzumi exclaimed joyously.

Ryouta wasn't too sure himself. He looked at the blackened out body that lay by his side, and he took a deep breath. It was too easy, way too easy.

" My, my, well done," a familiar voice replied, followed by some rhythmic clapping.

_Way too easy..._

" Impressive, to think that you'd be able to take out my clone," Maya said joyously, appearing on one of the higher branches of one of the trees around the area. Ryouta looked to his right, only to see the charred body burst into a puff of smoke, nothing more than a Shadow Clone. " For a genin, your skills are far too impressive..."

Ryouta was now too tired to put up a fight. He had a spare soldier pill in his pack, but taking a second one within such a short period of time might just kill him. He glanced at Sora, than at Suzumi, both of them still stuck to the respective wooden cocoons. _I don't have a choice..._he thought darkly as he immediately dug into his pack.

A sudden loud click somewhere seemed to stop time. Both Ryouta and Maya turned around towards the source of the sound to see what had cause it.

" Opps..."

Hiroshi could be seen right next to Suzumi. Somehow, he had managed to figure out how to work the odd contraption that held Suzumi in place, and had freed Suzumi. Released now, Hiroshi had her cradled in his arms, although the clicking noise made by releasing the lock mechanism alerted Maya to his presence.

" Resourceful, but futile," Maya replied, flipping out a kunai. Before Ryouta could react, she dashed right towards him, at speeds only Sora could reach. Hiroshi and Suzumi winced slightly as they saw her approaching, but something immediately stood in her way, a large piece of metal smashing against the kunai Maya's was wielding.

" Tenacious, but useless," Temari replied, snarling at Maya, who looked at her fiercely in the eye. " Leave these kids alone. I'll be your next opponent, bitch!"

_Writer's note: The Fire Release: Immortal Fire Technique is possibly almost a variant of Sasuke's Chidori Current, except the effect is constantly on, and he can fire out flames at will. I sort of wanted Ryouta to have this custom-made Fire technique for him to use as his own, and following Warcraft's Demon Hunter hero skill, Immolation, I came up with this. Also, the Fire Release: Fire Pilar technique is a variant of Neji's Kaiten technique, with obvious differences._


	30. Chapter 29: The Sand's Wind Queen

**Chapter 29: The Sand's Wind Queen**

" Temari-sama..." Ryouta gasped, seeing Temari appear all of a sudden, standing in-between the genins and Maya. Hiroshi tried to crawl backwards, seeing that Temari had halted Maya's advancement, trying to place as much distance as he possibly could between him and the enemy jounin. Temari had enough strength to hold Maya back.

" Good work, Hiroshi. Now, get to Sora's position and free her. Once done, get yourselves out of here immediately!" Temari replied.

" Come now, I'd like to keep them here," Maya replied.

" Make me," Temari snarled back.

Maya made a swift movement with her hands, but Temari beat her to it. Her hand swung around, and she flipped open her enormous fan and kicked back, before taking a wild swing at Maya. As predicted, there was a tremendous gush of wind that blew throughout the entire area. This was, of course, no normal wind, but sharp blasts of wind, capable of cutting even steel. Ryouta raised his hands to shield himself as the wind tore through the area.

Maya merely whipped her hands about, and the wind that rushed towards her direction dispersed immediately. Ryouta was a little surprised at that. Without any seals or obviously using any jutsu, she had managed to repel the attack in an instant. She glared at Temari, before stealing a glance at Ryouta, who flinched slightly.

That was the only signal she needed.

Maya leaped towards his direction, and instead of escaping, Ryouta reflexively stood his ground, his hands in a flurry of seals. Maya, however, was way too quick, and from the speed she was moving towards him, he knew that there was no way he could complete his jutsu before the alloted time. However, once more, Temari stood in her way again, stepping in from his side and swinging her enormous weapon all around, missing Maya's head by a fraction.

" What are you doing?!" Temari exclaimed, sounding slightly vexed.

" What?!..I was...I..." Ryouta stammered, lost for words.

" Go back up Hiroshi as he frees Sora," Temari ordered.

" Let me help!" Ryouta insisted.

" No," Temari replied firmly.

" I can..."

" No, you can't. As far as I am concerned, her combat level is way beyond yours. The only reason why she hasn't beaten you yet is probably because she needed you alive. Now, Ryouta, do as you are told, and go guard Hiroshi as he frees Sora," Temari ordered. Ryouta wanted to argue, but someone grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him back.

" Why don't you just listen to my sensei for once?" Makoto suggested, grinning right behind him.

" Since when did you..."

" Come now, let's not talk in the middle of the fighting field," Makoto suggested as he guided him aside.

Temari whipped up her fan once more and whipped a few blows into Maya's direction, sending out ripples of wind waves towards her at tremendous speeds. Maya moved backwards in an instant, producing a noticeable distance between the two of them. The gusts of wind tore all around her, dodging them all perfectly with her quick reflexes and agility, whipping her hands about when she was unable to actively avoid them, using some sort of invisible jutsu to dispel the attack. Ryouta and Makoto made it through the mess and across towards the other side where Hiroshi had taken Suzumi next to.

" You've been hurt," Ryouta noted.

" Huh? This?" Hiroshi asked, placing Suzumi down on the ground as gently as he could while looking at the neat bandages around his body. " Got stabbed, but nothing serious. Nothing old old bandages couldn't fix."

" With some help..." Hibiki said, jumping down from above a tree branch.

" I'll need to fix that," Suzumi said.

" No time. You deal with all the injuries you've gotten, us guys are fine. I need to free Sora first," Hiroshi said. Makoto and Ryouta raised their eyebrows, wondering why is Hiroshi acting tough all of a sudden.

Setting down next to the wooden cocoon that kept Sora in place, Hiroshi rolled out a few choice tools from his arsenal, mainly coming from his puppet maintenance he had obtained from Hibiki's home. The rest of them watched as he took out a lot of conventional tools from his pack, unsealing them out, coming in various shapes and sizes. He seemed to randomly select one tool and started fiddling with the corners of the cocoon.

" Sure he know what he's doing?" Suzumi asked.

" The cocoon is based off a mechanical lock sealed with a chakra wire, binding the set together. The mechanism for the cocoon is easy enough to break, I just need to figure out where the wire is running inside," Hiroshi replied.

" I think that's a yes," Ryouta replied.

As Hiroshi kept himself busy trying to free and unconscious Sora, the rest of them kept an eye on the fight that was going on between Temari and Maya. Temari was viciously swinging her fan all around, throwing out powerful gusts of wind all over the place, threatening to rip Maya apart with the sharp windblades she threw everywhere. Maya couldn't seem to get a strike in edgewise, or a word even.

" Just give up. You have no hope of taking the genins with me here. The reinforcement squads will be here any moment now, and you and your petty squadron will be crushed like the very insects you are," Temari retorted, scowling at Maya as she managed to avoid serious damage once more.

" I wouldn't be too confident. After all, if I can take care of that shadow fella, I think I can very well take care of a lesser known jounin from the Sand village," Maya replied haughtily. Her words seem to sink for a while, before anyone else actually replied.

" Shikamaru sensei...dead?" Hiroshi mused, stopping his work.

" Yeap, he's dead, dead as a ..."

Maya didn't get to finish her sentence. Temari whipped forward, closing the distance between them in the shortest span the genins had ever seen her move, her fan crashing down upon Maya, who caught the huge weapon slamming down on her like a sledgehammer painfully with her two bare hands.

" Silence, bitch!" Temari snarled angrily, her face contorted in anger.

" I mean, you must take my words as the truth. You left him alone to deal with me while you went on ahead to help deal with the team I set up who were after the genins. If I managed to come here and he's not, the answer should be obvious," Maya replied.

" Is...is Shikamaru sensei dead?" Hiroshi asked.

" Don't think about it and just deal with Sora so we can get out of here, Hiroshi," Ryouta replied sternly.

Hiroshi looked pitifully at Ryouta, but Ryouta did not wish to comment about it. Hiroshi then quickly returned his attention towards the thing he was supposed to be working on. He continued to fiddle with the contraption with his tools while the other watched the on-going fight.

Temari swung her fan powerfully as Maya leaped upwards. The powerful wind blade ripped apart the tree she was standing upon, breaking the branches into smaller pieces, making the massive tree crumble under it's now broken frame. Maya kicked off and hit another tree, only to leap away just in a fraction of a second as Temari sent another wave of wind in her direction. Despite being some distance away, the genins could feel the rush of power and energy as Temari's ability swept across the area.

" What the heck is going on around here?" a groggy voice asked all of a sudden.

" Sora! You are awake!" Hiroshi exclaimed, seeing Sora rise up from her stupor. She shook her head slightly, trying to shake off the grogginess inside, before taking a look around herself.

" Hey, what the hell is the matter with this? Why the hell am I stuck in a...wait, is this a wooden cocoon?!" Sora exclaimed loudly sounding like herself once more.

" Least your brain is still functional..." Hibiki sighed. " What a pity..."

" Silence, you lousy runt!" Sora exclaimed.

" A medical check-up is not necessary, Suzumi. If she can shout, then she is in top condition," Hiroshi said, inserting more string into the cocoon.

" And I'll kill you when I get out!" Sora exclaimed, squirming in her cage.

" ...Especially when she can add that sort of comment," Hiroshi said. " Besides, Ryouta, when were you actually going to tell us about the real objective of this mission?"

" I was...wait, what the hell are you talking about?!" Ryouta exclaimed.

" Come now. It was pretty obvious that were were not going to be tackling mere bandits when you ordered Hiroshi to set his traps. It was pretty obvious from then on that you were expecting this sort of a problem to occur. The least you could do was to tell us, couldn't you?" Suzumi replied.

" Hang on for just one damn second!" Sora exclaimed loudly. " Are you meaning to tell me that Ryouta knew about this attack, and he kept quiet?!"

" Correction: Ryouta AND Makoto..."

" Looks like the cat is out of the bag," Makoto replied grinning. Hibiki looked at them incredulously as Ryouta gave a sigh of defeat.

" Look, I won't lie to you now. Since we were still having problems with capturing Maya, as she was very good in keeping low, the officials in the Sand village had decided using bait was the best way to capture her. We know from our previous excursion with her that she wanted us specifically for whatever the reason, so they decided to use us as bait to draw her out. We were to come in here and draw her attention. Once that was done, a signal would be sent out to send in the reinforcements they had gathered around the area. They should be arriving any time now, we just have to wait until then," Ryouta explained all in one go. " Our senseis didn't want to tell you all this because we were worried about how you all might react to this, so we kept this to ourselves, since this mission is technically out of bounds for us."

" 'We'? Since when were you in a different league from us?" Hibiki asked, sounding miffed.

Ryouta merely gave him a warm smile. " You are right, we aren't," he replied. " You all aren't mad we pull you all into this?"

" Well, come now. I'm sure somewhere in our job description there is a statement that says 'May face certain death'. I think we can handle the fact that this is some dangerous shit you got us into," Hiroshi replied.

" Wait, are you telling someone of Hiroshi's caliber could figure out what was going on while I could not?!" Sora exclaimed.

" You know, I'd admit that I was the dead-last fella in our class in the academy, but the way that you speak of my mental capacities in such a way sounds insulting," Hiroshi said, frowning at her.

" Get me out and I may change my mind!" Sora exclaimed.

There was a sudden snap, and all of a sudden, the cocoon sprung open, the wooden frames breaking out from it's hinges, dropping Sora from its grasp. Hibiki caught her before she dropped to the ground.

" There!" Hiroshi exclaimed loudly.

" All of you, get out of here now!" Temari shouted.

They didn't waste one second. The instant she gave the order, all the genins immediately headed off away from the fight. Makoto helped carry Suzumi while Hibiki was trying his best not to lash out at Sora, who was in top condition raving at him for holding her but still not strong enough to stand on her own. Maya watched as they started to leave, an irritated look creeping up on her face.

" Sorry about that. I thought you disliked distractions. Doesn't this suit us better?" Temari suggested.

" Tch!" Maya replied, gritting her teeth.

--

" How far do we have to run?" Suzumi asked.

" Just keep our distance from them, but we cannot really go too far north nor go too far south. I hate to imagine crossing the Rock-nins territory and some of Maya's men might still be lurking somewhere south," Makoto answered as they made their way through the forest, brushing past trees and bushes.

" Wait, if that's so, then why the heck are we running? Shouldn't we just stay put then?" Hiroshi asked.

" My sentiments, exactly," a voice replied.

All of them skidded to a halt when they heard the voice, and their head shot up to look at the figure standing high above them amongst the tree's lush branches.

" Ah!" Sora exclaimed loudly.

--

" What's this? Slowing down already?" Maya cooed. Temari tried to ignore the remark and focus on her enemy. Maya has yet to pose as a real threat to her as long as she could keep her distance. She seemed quite tired, as if she had gone though quite a tiresome fight. Perhaps Shikamaru really did stall her well. _No, don't think of that right now…_she scolded herself. _Focus on the fight!_

Once more, she whipped out her fan in full view, but this time, she bit her thumb and ran a bloody line across it. She drew her hand back and swung with all her might at Maya's direction. All of a sudden, a massive weasel appeared, looking scarred as it had gone through many battles, holding a massive sickle in its paws.

" Crush her!" Temari commanded.

The weasel shot forward, and with it, it brought a whole gust of wind crashing alongside it. It didn't only cut everything in its path: it leveled everything in its path. It was as if a giant monster had decided to take a run through the forest. Trees and ground alike were taken out and down without any mercy. Everything in Temari's line of sight was leveled to the ground, cut into pieces. Temari stared at the destroyed land with unease.

Maya was nowhere to be seen.

There was a sharp burst right below the ground where Temari stood, and she jumped back immediately, but her reactions were not fast enough. Something invisible yet as sharp as a blade ripped her side, tearing at her abdomen. Temari hobbled backwards, holding the wound to her side as she dropped to one of her knees.

" Well, least you do live up to your name, Wind Queen of the Sand," Maya's voice floated around her.

All of a sudden, Maya's figure popped up from under the ground, obvious that she used the Inner Decapitation Technique to hide quickly, and effectively, against Temari's attacks. However, Temari still could not imagine what exactly did she used to attack. The attack didn't really have an substance, but could still rip open flesh. Temari tried to stand up, but the wound was too serious, and she was loosing quite a lot of blood.

" Can't stand up now, can't you?" Maya cooed.

" Silence...don't you dare get cocky..." Temari growled dangerously.

" Oh, and what are you going to do about it?" Maya asked, before raising her hand. Temari looked up at her hands. She wasn't sure what exactly she was about to do, but it sure was not slapping her in the face. Maya brought her hand down in a quick succession, and the ground burst open as she struck. Temari was no longer on the spot she was previously on.

" Oh?" Maya mused.

" Missed me?" Shikamaru asked, standing several meters away.

_Writer's note: It had always interested me that Temari could always used her wind jutsu with no seals, just a over-sized fan, and without seemingly having to exert herself too much. Overpowered, maybe?_


	31. Chapter 30: Rematch

**Chapter 30: Rematch**

Maya narrowed her eyes when Shikamaru casually flicked out a cigarette from his pocket and lighted it despite the situation. Temari was on the ground somewhere in front of him, looking at him incredulously as if he wasn't supposed to be there. It was obvious that he moved her with his Shadow Imitation Technique. Temari looked down at her wound. Shikamaru managed in the short period of time to use his Shadow Sewing Technique as well and sew up her wound as if he was stitching up a wound, using his shadow as a medium to close it up. It stung like hell, but at least she wasn't seriously losing too much blood.

" Temari-sama, we've got Shikamaru-sensei! He's alive!" Suzumi called from behind him. Dropping her head backwards, Temari spotted the rest of the genins gathered right behind him.

" Right, take Temari and deal with her injury. After that, just sit tight and let me handle this," Shikamaru replied.

The genins reacted at once. They ran up to Temari and carefully carried her off slowly, careful to not agitate her injuries. Placing her one the ground, Suzumi then started to perform her Medical jutsu, although it was obvious she wasn't doing a very good job since she was low on chakra. Shikamaru's shadow that held Temari's wound close started to dissolve into nothingness as Suzumi managed to slowly close up the wound.

" What? You look surprised? I'm a bit confused as to why you didn't attack just now," Shikamaru spoke to Maya. Hiroshi and Makoto turned to look at the conversation.

" ...I could have sworn I had killed you..." Maya said, sounding a little disappointed.

" Well, I'm sorry to disappoint in that specific department, but come now, did you really think that I had survived as a jounin up to now with just my shadow skills? I think you must be mistaken," Shikamaru replied. Maya took a good look at his clothes. They were not in perfect condition, but they were intact nonetheless. This gave her a thought.

" Shadow clones?" she mused.

" That would be telling," Shiakamrau replied, dropping to his knees and his hands in a flurry of seals.

Maya shot at him at once, her arm pulled back, ready to swing. She whipped her hand around his body, only to find herself slicing a piece of log. Something burst out of the ground a second later, and she backed up immediately as Shikamaru popped out from the ground. Maya quickly got her footing and steadied herself.

" Your abilities have all been made clear to me," Shikamaru spoke quietly as he got up from the ground. " Your ninjutsu is wind and earth based, but you don't base your main attack using that. That invisible blade you wield is nothing more than wind nature manipulation, except to an insane level, were you use your bones as a medium, instead of a chakra manipuating device, like a knife made from chakra absorbing material. Unheard off, but perhaps one of Orochimaru's more successful experiments, no?"

"..."

" Your insane speed is nothing really. Once again, you infuse wind nature into your feet, and with that, you propel yourself at supersonic speeds, kinda like how Hibiki does it, but his is an exterior enhancement while your is an interior enhancement. However, this enhancement doesn't come without a cost. Since you haven't specifically trained yourself in taijutsu, there is a certain limit on how much your legs can withstand a strain it has not been trained to handle. You are at your limit now, and if you so much make another insane movement, your muscles will tear," Shikamaru replied, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and throwing it aside.

" ... So, your title as the Tactician of the Leaf isn't just a boast, huh?" Maya replied. " But you haven't stated all of my skills yet."

" Maya, there is no need. With this information, and whatever else that I'll be getting out of this fight, there is no need to know if you have another 100 jutsus in your arsenal. This is because these are your best weapons, and I am not threatened by them at all. I suggest that you sit tight and just wait till I finish you off," Shikamaru replied.

Maya moved so quickly, nobody really saw her making the seals in her hands. She more or less clapped her hands together and then fired an enormous shot of wind, rivaling that of an explosion towards Shikamaru.

" Sensei!" Hiroshi exclaimed.

Shikamaru didn't bother to dodge, and the blast merely swept past him. The trees behind him were blasted off their hinges, broken into mere splinters, but he was unharmed.

_Not the real one..._Maya thought.

Maya leaped aside as a thin shadow line sneaked alongside next to her. She did a quick leap backwards, only to see another shadow right next to her. Kicking herself up, she shot up towards the trees, landing on the underside of the branch. There was a slight sizzling sound somewhere, and when she took a look at the branch she was on, there was an explosive note there already.

The blast was tremendous, but Maya managed to fire herself off into another direction, hitting the ground. She didn't know when exactly did Shikamaru place the explosive note there, but it was irrelevant. Her legs were bleeding severely, not from the explosive note, but from using her sudden burst of speed for the last time. It was Shikamaru's tactic to take out her arsenal of moves first. She stood up, rather unsteady on her feet.

" Damn it..." Maya spat.

" It's over, Maya. I win this time again," Shikamaru replied.

" Really now? After using your students as bait?" Maya taunted.

" I can look at it this way: none of them are dead. That is all that matters, and I don't care about the consequences. Besides, I was confident enough to deal with this matter without suffering too much casualties, and I think my students did splendidly," Shikamaru replied. " The same could not be said for you though."

" What would you know, huh?" Maya exclaimed, running towards him, oblivious towards the bleeding in her legs. She raised both her hands, and Shikamaru expected another use of her wind manipulation blades.

Maya took a wild swing, but Shikamaru didn't attempt to block it. He merely flickout out his trench knife and raised it up. As soon as her wind blade made contact with his knife, there was a shuddering surge of energy on the blade, and to Maya's surprise, Shikamaru's blade seem to absorb her wind blade. Stalled by the sudden act, Shikamaru took this chance to elbow her in the face. Maya staggered backwards as he hit her.

" As I said, my Shadow Imitation Technique isn't the only jutsu I know..."

Maya suddenly felt her body starting to freeze up, as she suddenly lost control of her muscles. As much as she wanted to break free, she was unable to. Her eyes looked up at Shikamaru and then to the ground, were a thin black line connected his shadow and hers.

" ...but nonetheless, it's one of my better skills. Checkmate, Maya."

Maya merely made a 'tch'ing noise under her breath.

" Alright, sensei, I always had faith in you!" Hiroshi exclaimed loudly.

" Oh, yeah? So much coming from a person who thought I was dead..." Shikamaru muttered to himself.

He looked at Maya, who looked back at him defiantly, not afraid at all. Shikamaru had no idea how she was going to escape this time, but she didn't look bothered at all. Shikamaru wasn't sure what exactly to make of it.

" Hakane Maya, this shall be the end of the road for you," Shikamaru replied, clapping his hand together. All of a sudden, Maya felt some pressure rise up on her chest. Looking as far down as she could, she suddenly spotted a shadowy arm crawling up her chest, coming from her shadow, or Shikamaru's, she couldn't really tell since both of them were fuse together.

" Aren't you going to keep me for interrogation?" Maya asked, raising an eyebrow.

" There...is no need..." Shikamaru replied, as the hand closed around her neck. As if it was a signal, the rain started to stop at that moment when the shadow hand closed itself around her neck, as if it was the time for everything else to stop.

--

" So, how is she?" Shikamaru asked as he walked up towards the rest of them.

" She has suffered a severe cut to her lower abdomen, but luckily none of her vital organs were damaged. I managed to seal up the wound and applied some first-aid. Temari-sensei will be fine, she'll just need a lot of rest and some more treatment by much more skilled people when we return," Suzumi answered.

" That's my girl," Temari said, pulling Suzumi close and giving her a ticklish kiss on her neck. " Where the hell were you?! I almost got cut into ribbons because you were late, jackass."

" Women..." Shikamaru muttered under her breath.

Shikamaru took a good look at them. Ryouta, Makoto and Hibiki were quite fine, besides being almost out of chakra and having a few cuts and bruises, they had suffered nothing serious. Hiroshi was injured by a stab wound to the abdomen, but he seemed alright, and Suzumi had no comment for him. Suzumi was a little battered, but nonetheless still active. Sora was quite beat up, mainly from overusing her own devastating sound jutsus, but nothing he needed to worry about if she could suddenly come up and punch him in his gut.

" Damn you sensei!" Sora exclaimed. It wasn't a really powerful punch, but a mean one, and a punch she really meant to give him. Shikamaru dropped to his knees and winced slightly.

" Sora, have you gone mad?!" Hiroshi exclaimed, jumping up and grabbing her to restrain her from doing anything else.

" How dare you not tell us about this? Argh! I'm so mad, I can kill you now!" she screamed.

" You must understand my reasons for not telling you about this," Shikamaru replied, sitting down and rubbing the spot where she had hit. " As much as this sort of mission would do us good, this was still way beyond any of your capabilities. Temari and I could barely handle this, but yet, we have to. If we allowed Maya to terrorise the area, then it would reflect badly against how the Sand/Fire Alliance would look like. We couldn't have that."

" You still could have told us," Hibiki said, scowling.

" We were just...worried, Hibiki. It wasn't as if we wanted to lie to you in any way," Temari answered for her student's behalf. " We were just..."

" Not confident we can't handle the situation?" Hibiki asked. " Come now sensei. I know we are just genins, but you could at least put some faith in our abilities."

" It's not yours I'm worried about," Temari replied.

" That's bullshit! Suzumi isn't as weak as you think she might be. Besides, with us around, there shouldn't be anything to worry about!" Sora exclaimed loudly, standing up proudly and showing her fist before collapsing once more since her legs could not hold her.

" That's right! Suzumi is about as tough as Sora!" Hiroshi exclaimed. Suzumi blushed at her friends' comments and attempted to look away.

" You have no right to comment on that, since you are the weakest amongst all of us," Hibiki said, scowling. The rest of them burst out laughing at once at the comment, making Hiroshi's face go red. Temari couldn't help but smile and Shikamaru chuckled at their reaction.

He had to admire their spirit. Despite the danger, they could still think about duty and comradeship. Shikamaru wasn't sure whether he had that sort of behavior when he was their age. Perhaps he did, but nonetheless, he was proud to see their valor and bravery despite all this. A talented bunch. Perhaps having a trip to the Sand was worth it after all.

A sudden tap on top one of the branches made them stop and look around.

" Gah!" Hiroshi yelled loudly.

Right on top of the branch of the tree which they were resting under crouched a man with a strange oval mask with multiple patterns all over his face. He had a short sword kept by his side, and was wrapped in a large cloak made for desert travel. He looked down ominously at them, as if he was some sort of bird of prey. He dropped immediately to the ground in a second, landing in the middle of the group.

" Argh!" Hiroshi yelled even louder.

" Relax, Hiroshi. Their the special ANBU forces from the Sand. They are here to help us," Ryouta quickly replied to pacify him. Hiroshi still looked like he wasn't too convinced.

The man bowed down at Temari, who was propped against a tree, and spoke while keeping his head down. " My apologies, Temari-sama. Our forces were held back by the traps they had set, and we had run into some trouble. However, most of their forces have been dealt with, and now most of the squadrons are dealing with the rest of the leftovers that have survived," he spoke in a deep resounding voice.

" That's alright, you arrived anyway. Secure the area, will you?" Temari asked.

The man didn't answer or nod his head, but merely raised his hands and snapped his fingers curtly. All of a sudden, four other people dress in a similar fashion came out from behind the trees surrounding them, and secured a parameter around the entire area. Hiroshi, Sora and Suzumi stared in awe at the men, glad they had reinforcements now. More arrived later, making a total of twelve, and two of them started to promptly treat their wounds, starting with Temari first.

" I'm fine, thank you," Sora replied when one of them attempted to examine her.

" You've broken a couple of bones in your right hand, as far as I know. I doubt that's quite fine. Besides, you can't stand because of some muscle spasm due to extreme strain. Sit tight," the person replied.

" Hey!" Sora exclaimed as the man prodded her with his chakra coated finger.

" Sir!"

Shikamaru turned around to see one of the ANBU members of the Sand village behind him. " Sir, what of Maya? What has happened to her?"

" What are you talking about? I've dealt with her," Shikamaru said, puzzled at the question.

" That's excellent, sir, but where is she?" he asked once more.

" Where?! She's over..."

Shikamaru turned around to see where he had originally left her body when he had finally strangled her with his Shadow Neck Bind Technique. There were some splatters of blood and dirt all over the place, but her body was missing.

"...here..."

_Writer's note: A relatively short chapter. I wasn't particularly wordy here._


	32. Chapter 31: Return to the Sand

**Chapter 31: Return to the Sand**

It was raining right now in the Sand village. Indeed, it was a rare event. The rain rarely moistens the harsh, dry desert of the Sand country, and for the most part it was dry. However, certain times in a year, heavy downpours would visit the village, as if to pay back all those months of painful, dry weather. Today was one of those days. Dark massive clouds that had stolen the rain from all those months ago was now throwing it back towards the scorched earth.

It certainly did set the mood for the topic for discussion.

" So, you are saying Maya seemed to know about your past, more than she should have know, and that's something you are curious and worried about?" Shikamaru asked.

Ryouta has spent several minutes explaining to Shikamaru of what Maya spoke to him about. It was most certainly intriguing, but worrisome at the same time. Surely, there had to be some explanation to her actions, and whatever knowledge she knew.

All of them safely made it back, after being escorted by squadrons of ANBU members. Temari had to be hospitalised for a bit, but there was nothing serious. The genins were doing well, and after a couple of days of rest, besides Hiroshi, Sora and Suzumi, the rest of them were ready for active duty. Shikamaru kept himself busy reading and preparing reports on the mission. It was during one of his visits to the Sand archives that Ryouta tracked him down and decided it was time to discuss things.

Ryouta nodded at Shikamaru's comment.

Shikamaru put down the file he was holding and merely looked with a blank gaze around the room. It certainly was an interesting thought, and it might hold some answers in his part, or more questions, depending on how you see it. Ryouta was a mere 12 year old shinobi. Would this be an opportune moment to spoil his future?

" It certainly has been bugging me, especially when I took up the profile files on the three of you. Take a seat if you want to listen, Ryouta, although perhaps the truth might be a little harsh," Shikamaru replied, pulling out a chair for him to sit upon. Ryouta didn't hesitate one bit. He took the chair and sat down on it, firmly as if he was trying to set his resolve.

" First of all, let's talk about you. According to the reports, you aren't from Konoha, but a team picked you up somewhere in the Rain village, or somewhere along the borders some time ago. We don't know who your parents are, nor do we know why you were left there. The teams said that they found you near a destroyed village, and merely picked you up least you die from the cold and hunger. Whether or not you were from the Rain village or not, we cannot be sure," Shikamaru replied. Ryouta absorbed every word he said.

" Medical reports have been unable to pick up anything abnormal about you, Ryouta. Nothing. You were more or less a healthy baby boy, had an affinity for the fire element, and living. None of the medics could pick up anything, but you do know that there is something odd about you?" Shikamaru asked.

" My ninjutsu abilities?" Ryouta asked.

" I guess you should have figured it out by now. Nobody in the record of any shinobi has managed to be able to use a total of 4 elements at the age of twelve. At the most extreme case, two at the most, just like Makoto. He would be a genius at this level. However, the problem is not just using elemental ninjutsu, but elemental manipulation. You have managed to control fire, lightning, wind and earth all without any relative difficulty when it takes the average shinobi 2 years to master at least one. This ability in itself, I think, can even be considered a bloodline limit," Shikamaru replied.

" Perhaps of course you aren't the regular genin...but then again, how can we explain this scenario?" Shikamaru continued. " I take it that you know who Orochimaru is."

Who in Konoha didn't? Orochimaru was the infamous student of the Third Hokage, the one they call the Professor, one of the legendary Sannins. It was known that he betrayed his own village, and with his own power, took over the reigns of the Sound village in order to amass an army, and has been a threat to the nation's security. Ryouta could still remember the war he had launched several years ago which hit his own village. He was hiding in the one of the compartments behind the Hokage statues and didn't see much of the carnage, but he probably seen enough of whatever was left behind, whatever he had took.

Ironically, the Sand-nins also took part in the fight, but on Orochimaru's side.

" One of Orochimaru's hobbies was to do various human experiments on just about everything. He was interested in immortality, you see, but his experiments were not limited to that side. He did countless experiments on every damned thing, from forbidden jutsus to human transplants and the like. He was finally taken down years ago, but most of his labs, even though abandoned, still contained much of his works. I was tasked alongside my teammates to wipe them out. The level of whatever he had done was just...unspeakable," Shikamaru replied.

" Are you...suggesting...that I might be one of his experiments?" Ryouta asked.

" Maya was a known scientists who practiced a lot of experiments alongside him. I'm not sure whether she was entirely in his league, but nonetheless, she had access to his experiments. It's a long shot, but perhaps since she knows you, perhaps you, by some chance, were her test subject. I could only imagine, because she must have done some experiments on herself as well. The level of nature manipulation, not elemental jutsu, using her own body is crazy enough. Perhaps the same could apply to you as well," Shikamaru replied.

Ryouta wasn't too sure what to say. The possibility of being a by-product of some odd experiment of a person he had grown to hate was something, but Ryouta was much more worried about something else.

" Shikamaru-sensei, if you know all this, and the rest of the administration of the village knows as well, what would they think of me?" Ryouta asked.

" Simply put, just ask yourself: Are you Mazaki Kazuki, or Sato Ryouta?" Shikamaru asked.

Ryouta was stunned for a while, but he quickly recovered when he understood what Shikamaru meant. He stood up and proudly announced " I'm Sato Ryouta!"

" Then you are about as loyal to Konoha as a shinobi of Konoha as I am. Nobody will question that."

--

Ryouta slowly turned the knob of the door and pushed open the door, entering the ward room slowly. The familiar sight greeted him: Suzumi who was in bed at the end, with the rest of them surrounding her bed. Hiroshi and Makoto usually by her side, Sora walking around, and Hibiki hanging by the window, not bothered by the splattering rain. All of them looked up at him as he entered.

" Ryouta! So, what did you discuss with Shikamaru-sensei?" Hiroshi asked.

" Oh, nothing much really...how are you today, Suzumi?" Ryouta answered quickly, drawing up a chair for himself quickly.

" Quite good, I think. The doctors say that I'll be fine by tomorrow, and I'll be able to leave tomorrow. Of course, I shouldn't do any active duty anytime soon," Suzumi replied.

" Damn those doctors!" Sora exclaimed, making some rude hand signals. " I'm more than ready. All this rest is getting me restless. Why can't we just go? I'm fit." She pause to see all of them chuckle under their breath all at the same time. " You bastards! Have you all been rehearsing for this moment to just make fun of me?!"

" Maybe we are...what do you know," Hibiki muttered.

" Quiet punk, I'll be ready to trash your ass anytime soon," Sora said, stepping up to him and snarling at his face. He returned an equally bold stare right in her face. Hiroshi and Ryouta sighed. Apparently nothing could keep this girl down. Makoto and Suzumi were chuckling at her actions.

Hiroshi felt that their team was much more complete right now. Hibiki would often join them, although with that high, reserved air he always carried around, but at least he kept them company without that dank, dark aura he carried around with him all the time. The rest of them are quite surprised at Hibiki's much friendlier attitude right now, and they blamed Hiroshi for it.

" I'm hungry. I was thinking of a good BBQ snack," Makoto said, getting up from his seat. " Anyone wants to join me?"

" I think I'll come. We have things to discuss anyway," Ryouta said.

" What do you two discuss anyway?" Sora asked, narrowing her eyes.

" Nothing a person of your intellect would understand," Makoto answered as the two geniuses exited the room.

" What?!" Sora screamed.

" Come on, let's give Suzumi some time to rest," Hibiki replied, before shooting a wink at Hiroshi. Hiroshi caught the sight of his actions, but he wasn't too sure what exactly he meant at that. " Let's go and leave her alone for a while, shall we, Sora?"

" Huh? Why should I?" Sora asked, sounding perplexed at Hibiki's actions.

" I'll spar with you," Hibiki offered.

" This is the first time you offered me anything. I think I shall pass," Sora said, turning around and folding her arms.

Hibiki looked at her oddly, then in one bold move, took out the spear from his back, and very swiftly and gently, nudge Sora's buttocks gently. Sora gave a scream, jumped and cursed as she turned around with a livid expression.

" You son of a ..."

" Just too easy," Hibiki whispered to Hiroshi, who started to make his escape through the window. Hiroshi looked at the pouring rain and wondered if it was a good idea to escape through the window anyway. " Take your time and talk to her. Let's see what happens, no?" As soon as he was done, he leaped through the window, closely followed by Sora, who was screaming something about 'sexual harrasment with a 10 foot pole' as she chased him throughout the Sand village's rooftops.

" Wow, he hasn't done that in a long time now," Suzumi mused, smiling at their actions.

" I see...what?! Wait, you telling me he nudges girl's rear ends before?" Hiroshi spat.

" Used to be a prank. He did that a lot in school. It was sort of a dare he did to amuse me most of the time. I was pretty sure the girls in his class were not very amused, but the guys sure were. He needed to dodge a hail of kunais and shurikens after each prank all the time," Suzumi said. " Too bad he never played this trick on me before."

" ...You like to be t..."

" No! I...what...wait, this isn't what you think it is...I...er..." Suzumi started stammering, turning crimson in the face after it dawn on her how she had managed to phrase her sentence. Hiroshi caught one look of her face, and burst out laughing. Suzumi could merely look at him, bashful and embarrassed.

" Oh, I didn't know that!" Hiroshi exclaimed between his laughs, slapping his thighs.

" I didn't mean it that way..."

" Well, you are just in luck. Guess what? I'll poke you for free today," Hiroshi said, lifting up a finger.

" Wait...what? What do..."

But Hiroshi never gave Suzumi the chance to say anything. He quickly leaned next to her and started to prod her stomach, which made her laugh out loud due to being tickled. Hiroshi could only grin when the both of them laughed at each other. Their echoes rang outside the window, and several meters away, and after being heard, Hibiki could only smile to himself.

--

" One visit after so long? I wonder why I even put up with you," Temari sighed from her bedside as she saw Shikamaru enter the room, empty-handed apparently. " Geez, not even a flower. I know they're probably more expensive here, but I could use some colour in the room. You know I dislike all this drab furnishing they have in the hospital."

Shikamaru merely scratched his head, not sheepishly out of embarrassment, but more out of frustration. " This is exactly why I hate hospital visits. They are just too much of a chore to bother about, especially when you are involved. Still, I did get you something," Shikamaru said, dropping down to the seat next to hers.

Temari seemed to brighten up a little. " Really? What do you have for me?" she asked. With that, Shikamaru leaned forward and pecked her lightly on her cheek. Temari frown at him for a moment, contemplating at what he did, before continuing by saying " Geez, that was pathetic!"

Shikamaru threw his hands up in frustration. " Oh God, I give up," he moaned.

" The least you could do is visit me more often. At least my students, even yours, made the effort," Temari teased him. " Why? Still can't get Maya out of your mind?"

" Unless we find her body, I doubt I can. I could have sworn I had strangled her, but her body isn't there. Unless she got back up, another explanation would be that someone else was there, waiting until I was occupied, then stole her body," Shikamaru.

" One of her accomplices?" Temari asked.

" I believe so. Perhaps there were things in her body that she didn't want other people to know. Either that, another party is involved. Possibly Orochimaru's old agents who are still active. Maya isn't actively one of his agents, so Orochimaru's rogues might just want to keep what was left of a sick legacy that that man left behind...I don't know...the fact that her body went missing under my nose is disturbing enough," Shikamaru replied, looking out at the rain that was washing down the window of the room, splattering noisily outside.


	33. Chapter 32: Times Together

**Chapter 32: Times Together**

Hiroshi held Ryouta's shinobi blade in his hands, focusing his chakra to his hands. Very slowly, a swirl of chakra started to form around the blade. Hiroshi strained even harder, focusing more chakra on his hands, however he did not manage to achieve the sharp straight chakra coat he was supposed to get, but a coat that was quavering on and off. He whipped around to hit the steel pipe that was prepared in the training grounds, but nothing happened.

" You are getting there," Ryouta replied, standing some distance away, his arm folded and looking at the proceedings and smiling warmly.

" Well, no shit..." Hiroshi groaned.

" Be reasonable, Hiroshi. Mastering nature manipulation takes an average of 2 years. If it takes you 3 weeks, then well...God damn," Makoto laughed.

" But you two, plus Hibiki, know how to do wind manipulation anyway, perfectly, and Ryouta knows more than one," Hiroshi argued.

" Well, we are geniuses, aren't we?" Hibiki replied.

Some time has passed since the incident up north involving Maya. The genins were now taking a break, which meant they did a lot of training during these few weeks. Hiroshi had asked his teammates to teach him nature manipulation, specifically wind nature manipulation, since it was his element. However, no matter how he molded his chakra, it could not form the desired shape on the knife he had. He knew it took time, but since perhaps the results were not that obvious.

" I don't know why you bother with this anyway. You are doing well with your puppets, so why not focused on that?" Sora asked, performing a handstand with one hand to train herself. This was merely a warm-up for her, before she will race around the village much later.

" I'm doing well, I know, but I want to expend my arsenal a little bit. Puppets use a lot of hidden bladed weapons, so if I can fuse my weapons with the wind element, wouldn't that be awesome?" Hiroshi asked.

" Well then, don't complain too much and continue practising," Sora replied.

" How about some tips, eh?" Hiroshi asked.

" I've given you enough tips...look here, dumbass," Hibiki replied, taking the blade from him. He gripped the weapon tightly, and within a second, the blade was covered in a coat of chakra, but not just any chakra coat, but one which looked sharp. There was some intense feeling about it, as if Hibiki had somehow made the weapon ten times more dangerous.

" Basics in using nature manipulation for the wind is to split your chakra into two and then simultaneously rub them together, like to sharpen them. In that way, you are able to produce a sharpened product, that is 'wind'. That's all to it really, so just keep trying," Hibiki said.

Hiroshi took back the blade and looked at the rest of them, who merely looked at him. He focused his chakra on the blade and charged it. A coat of chakra started to coat around the blade once more. Hiroshi tensed up harder, straining very hard.

" Hey, what the hell do you think you are doing?!" Sora yelled out loud.

Hiroshi had been so focused on forcing out his chakra until he didn't really realised what he was doing exactly. The blade suddenly heated up all of a sudden, and he gave a yelp as he realised it, as sparks of electricity started to fly everywhere.

" What the hell?" Hiroshi exclaimed.

" Wow, you managed to produced electricity!" Suzumi exclaimed.

" ...Is that a good thing?" Hiroshi asked.

Ryouta and Makoto burst out laughing simultaneously, while Hibiki and Sora looked at him with confounded faces. " Well, least you managed to push out another element," Suzumi said, chuckling.

" Perhaps you've been straining too hard, thus forming electricity," Ryouta replied.

" ...Should I focus on electricity then?" Hiroshi asked.

" Nope, just keep with wind," Ryouta replied.

" Why?"

" Lightning just doesn't suit you," Ryouta answered.

Hiroshi merely frowned.

" Let's just give him some lessons on Nature Manipulation 101, shall we?" Makoto suggested to Ryouta.

" Alright, look here: there are as you know, 5 elements in total, each representing one of the five major nations in the world. For basic nature manipulation, there are two types: spontaneous and medium based. Earth and water are medium based, because no matter how you alter your chakra, you will definitely need earth or water as a medium to utilise them. Fire, lighting and wind are spontaneous because using just your chakra, you can form them. Here," Ryouta said, taking the blade from Hiroshi. The blade caught fire at once, before the fire was quickly extinguished and replaced by an almost invisible coat of chakra, then it was replaced by lightning sparks, shooting in all directions.

" To form wind, Hibiki has already told you how. For fire, you need to split up your chakra into smaller pieces and make them collide into one another, to sort of spark them to make them fire. The initial process is difficult, but if you can keep it up, maintaining it is fairly easy. As for electricity, it's a combination of fire and wind. You split your chakra into two parts, and rub them together. However, instead of sharpening them, you compress them hard, pressurising them in a way, then with some control, split them apart into smaller pieces. This will form electricity, compressed chakra particles at a high level."

" If the properties of wind is it's sharpness, then fire is it's explosive ability. Lighting is more of a combination of both of these elements, but much more chakra intensive among the both. Also, since fire and lightning is highly energy based, so fire will burn your hand after time, and so will lightning, with some scaring effects. Wind is by far more suitable for you, Hiroshi," Ryouta explained. " Here, let me show you the different properties of all three."

He picked up a steel rod they were using for practise. Tossing it in the air, Ryouta whipped his hand at it, the blade slicing the metal piece as easily as going through melted butter. Changing elements, he hit half the pole with his blade on fire. The pole was blasted aside, charred and broken apart. Changing to lightning in another second, he stabbed the other half of the pole, which went in easily, and with a sudden outburst of chakra, ripped the pole using electricity and blasted it into a hundred pieces.

" Knowledge in a lot of elemental arts give a variety of skills in the midst of the battlefield. Start with wind, Hiroshi, and I'm sure your puppets won't exactly need poison to kill people," Ryouta replied, handing the blade back to a very surprised Hiroshi, who's jaw had dropped to about as low as it could possibly go.

" Ryouta, you are awesome!" Hiroshi exclaimed, his eyes sparkling in awe.

" Bah, what a show-off!" Sora snorted.

" As if you know nature manipulation," Hibiki replied.

" As a matter of fact, prick, I do," Sora said, flipping over and landing on her feet while holding out the palm of her hand. She strained a lot as she focused hard. The rest of them watched quietly, before seeing a small globule of water form in mid-air around her palm, which got larger and larger. " Here, water manipulation for you, you little jack!" she exclaimed, before throwing the ball of water right at Hibiki's face, which he promptly dodged.

" That's quite impressive, considering that this is a desert. Water manipulation at this environment is pretty difficult. No wonder she was straining," Makoto said.

" Does the lack of water make a difference?" Hiroshi asked.

" It most certainly does. Because water jutsus need water to function, and water has mass, so it's difficult to just produce it out of mere chakra, so it's usually done by using water around the surrounding area. In a dry area where there is a lack of water, it is much difficult to perform water jutsus. This is why it's literally impossible for Mist-nins to siege our country without facing multiple difficulties since the water supply here is scarce, unless they are skilled enough to form water on their own, which is amazing, since only highly skilled shinobi could do that. What Sora did was condense water around our surroundings, which was difficult since it is this dry here," Makoto answered.

" Consequently, it's difficult to siege the Water nation because it's so wet, Mist-nins literally have no problem performing their jutsus. When large quantities of water is involved, Mist-nins can easily siege large areas with devastating effects, and water, at high pressures, is a formidable weapons. Attacking the place is close to suicide," Hibiki replied.

" Consequently, this is way the Rock-nins are very adapt at expending their territory during the first Shinobi wars. Earth is found everywhere, and like water, can be used upon large areas, where multiple ninjas can level whole hectors of land. They can easily crush an on-coming platoon with some ninjustu combination because their jutsus are fairly easy to use. If you look back in history, the rock-nins managed to take as much territory compared to the other five nations. The Wind country's vast territory is due to it mostly being desert, so the Rock-nins, nor the Leaf-nins wanted such lousy, unfertile land, so we are quite large by far. Leaf-nins managed to hold their ground using tactics and a great military force of the two major clans of the era, and with the inclusion of the Hyuuga, they managed to quickly establish themselves as a major power in the midst of strife. Mist-nins mainly cover the least amount of land, if you see correctly on the map, but they mainly own islands and swamp lands, covered with large areas of water, which makes it a natural territory for them, but by far they could not expend any further without the abundance of water, since they were very reliant on water to expand their territory. Cloud-nins on the far east side mainly stayed out of the way, keeping diplomatic ties and forming their powers quietly, so most of the other nations didn't really bother with them."

" Wow, I'm impressed," Suzumi said, really honestly saying that. " You know a fair amount of history."

" Those who never study history are cursed to repeat it's mistakes in the future," Ryouta replied. " Am I not correct?"

" Alright, alright, you win, smartass," Sora replied.

" Our land is constantly filled with strife and violence, and as shinobi, the most we ever do is serve as tools for the country, and as such, the best things we do are to kill one another," Makoto sighed, taking a seat on one of the benches, leaning back and relaxing himself.

" Do you think that our countries might to war against one another?" Hiroshi asked all of a sudden.

The question seemed to strike a chord within them. After all, the possibility was still there. An alliance treaty didn't stop the Sand from invading the Leafs before. Ties were strong and good, but as always, they could be fickle as per usual. Anything goes in the world of the shinobi, and not even firm alliances can stand forever.

" As for that...I hope it doesn't happen...least not in my lifetime..." Makoto said, turning to Hiroshi, giving him a warm smile.

" Yeah, I'd hate to beat you up," Sora chuckled.

" I doubt that," Suzumi replied. The tense atmosphere was broken immediately as all of them burst out laughing.

" Oh well, let's continue training, shall we?" Ryouta suggested.

" Bah, training sucks. How about a spar?" Sora suggested.

" Who'd want to spar with a violent mad woman like yourself?" Hiroshi asked in an off-handed manner.

" Let's all spar together. Won't that be fun? Since there are three of us, we can have a three one-on-one matches. The best out of 3 wins, and the loser needs to pay for lunch," Ryouta suggested.

" Alright! I'm totally pumped!" Sora said. " A challenge between the Leafs and the Sand!"

" Nah, how about we mix the teams up together?" Makoto suggested. " That'll be much more fun."

" Hmm..." Suzumi mused.

" Settles it then. Makoto and Suzumi will be on my side. The rest of you will take the other side," Sora replied.

" Hey, who said you could decide?!" Hibiki shouted.

" Cos I'm definitely not working with people I can't work with," Sora said, sticking out her tongue.

-

" Shit!" Hiroshi said.

" Get ready, punk!" Sora snarled, lowering her body into a fighting stance as she squared off with Hiroshi standing awkwardly at the opposite corner. He was unlucky in picking straws, and he had Sora as his opponent. The rest were cheering them on, with Ryouta and Makoto as referees.

" Hey, this ain't fair…I don't even have my puppets ready yet, nor is it fixed," Hiroshi argued.

" Too bad for you then," Sora said, crackling her knuckles.

" Ready?" Ryouta asked.

" Aww, shit…" Hiroshi moaned.

" Begin!" Makoto exclaimed.

Sora didn't wait for Hiroshi to get ready. She took off in an instant, and was flying towards Hiroshi at top speed. Hiroshi raised his arms in an instant, blocking the strike to his head. Sora grinned as he blocked the attack, kicking her leg up and aiming it for his head. Hiroshi ducked within a second, and rolled backwards, keeping his distance.

" Good, very good. Your reaction time has sped up. Keep it up!" Sora exclaimed.

Hiroshi could only force a wiry smile. He figured he may as well take this seriously. It would be good to gauge his ability, even without a puppet.

He kicked himself backwards, keeping some distance as he took out a scroll from his weapon pouch. With one swift motion, he bit his finger and drew a line on the scroll, and produced two of his weapon launchers and four other scrolls. He whipped out his chakra strings, attached it on everything and locked his weapon launchers to his hands, loading the scrolls perfectly without missing a beat.

Sora came right at him. He fired two windmill shurikens at her in an instant, firing them off his weapon launchers. Sora merely jumped through both of them, avoiding them easily with her movement and speed she always carried with herself. However, she saw Hiroshi twitch his fingers on his right hand a little, and turned around to take a quick look. The spinning windmill shurikens spun away from her, before slowing their advance and all of a sudden backed up towards her.

_Controlling them using puppet strings!_

Hiroshi let loose another two windmill shurikens right at her, and Sora was caught between a barrage of windmill shurikens: two from the front and two from the back. But she was not to be beaten yet. Just as all four of them were about to hit her, she jumped up, and a quick spin in mid-air, and stopped all four of the weapons with all four of her limbs, catching two windmill shurikens in her hand with enough stopping power to force them to stop spinning, and kicking the remaining two of them aside with her legs.

Hiroshi was prepared for that.

The instant Sora did that, he flicked a few of his fingers. The windmill shurikens, attached to chakra strings on his hands, all suddenly broke apart, their blades flying in all directions as Hiroshi let loose the locking mechanism in the weapon that held the blades in place. 16 large blades flew in all directions, half of them towards Sora.

But Sora was more than prepared.

With agility and precision way above the norm, Sora spun her body around, putting it in a perfect angle as all the blades swept past her, missing her by fractions. The blades fell around everywhere, but Sora was relatively unharmed as she dropped to the ground on her two feet, except maybe for the slight cut on her face.

" Awesome, Hiroshi…you have improved a lot…very good," Sora laughed.

" You can't be serious…" Hiroshi moaned.

Sora came at Hiroshi once more, and he fired a whole set of senbon needles at her, which she avoided easily. She came right up at him. He swung a punch at her face, which she blocked with relative ease. When their hands made contact, Hiroshi set loose a bunch of shurikens right at her face, but still he missed her face by a fraction of a second. Sora backed up slightly, but Hiroshi took this chance and formed several hand seals immediately. However, Sora recovered quickly, and grabbed both his hands and pried them apart just as he was done with the final seal.

" A little to late!" Sora exclaimed, head-butting him painfully on the forehead. Hiroshi felt the impact, and his head reeled back from the concussion. The hit made him awfully dizzy, but he somehow managed to find the constitution to pull back up, looking back at a clearly surprised Sora, who probably didn't expect him to recover from such a blow to the head, considering the fact that she could put a dent on a sheet of metal just using her head.

" Wind Release: Wind Bullet!"

Sora was just too close to avoid that hit. Hiroshi fired out a shot from his mouth, and a powerful gust of wind was fired out from his mouth, smashing Sora right in the face with blunt force. Suzumi gasped a little bit and Hibiki gave some loud exclamation when it was Sora this time who got her head knocked backwards, blood flying out from a wound she sustained. Hiroshi thought he managed to get a successful hit, but then Sora, who was still holding on to both his hands, gripped him very tightly.

" I'm bloody impressed, but not good enough!" Sora exclaimed, jerking her head back up, her forehead bleeding profoundly from being hit at such close quarters. She drew her head back, and once again, head-butted Hiroshi squarely in the forehead, with twice the force this time. There was no way Hiroshi could sustain the hit when he was still recovering the previous attack. The moment Sora hit him, his world blacked out.

--

" You didn't need to hit that hard, you know," Hiroshi groaned, holding his head which was still very sore. The second impact was really damaging, and even after being treated by Suzumi, who managed to seal the cut on his head, was still very sore and bruised.

" Hey, you smacked me real hard as well," Sora argued, nudging the bandage on her head.

" That was a bloody requirement, since you are practically made out of concrete anyway!" Hiroshi snorted.

Hiroshi's group lost, with the other side winning two to one. Hibiki made a very bad job putting up with Suzumi, and by all means, lost on purpose, although he did it very obviously, and Suzumi was totally pissed that Hibiki didn't feel like taking her seriously. He gave an argument that he didn't like beating up girls, which Sora said was contradicting when he sparred with her. Given that, he gave the argument on whether Sora was a girl or not. Ryouta and Makoto took the final match, and after a very long 7 minute spar, with all the fancy ninjutsu and all that, Ryouta took home the only win for his group.

" Free BBQ!" Sora exclaimed happily.

" You do know the exact size of her appetite, don't you?" Hiroshi asked Hibiki.

" I'm well aware of it," Hibiki said, winking. " We don't have much time left together. Let's consider it a treat, shall we?"

Hiroshi wasn't sure what too say. Their duration in the Sand village was almost up. In less than a week, after their final mission, they would be returning back to their old village. He missed his hometown, but he was sure to miss the three of his newly found Sand comrades, who had gone through so many things as of now. It felt as if they had grown together in a way.

" Perhaps…" Hiroshi said, smiling at the rest of them.

_Writer's note: The description of elemental manipulation and the history of the shinobi world is of course, not canon, but something I just decided to add for this chapter._


	34. Chapter 33: Bonds

**Chapter 33: Bonds**

Hiroshi looked mournfully at all the stuff that he had managed to pack back for the return journey. Their time was up, and it was time to go back. Makoto said that they would be able to see each other on the field more often if possible, and there will always be the chance they might take some overseas mission at where they were, but Hiroshi still felt downhearted. He had quite some fun here, and he was just sad to leave.

He was leaving with a noticeable increase in his luggage. He had to carry back extra scrolls and equipment for all of his puppets, so his load was significantly much larger than his teammates, who didn't really have to carry anything much. Puppet supplies were non-existent, or at best: scarce, back in his village, so he had to take as much as he could carry from Hibiki's house. His teammates were happy to help him carry them as long as they were sealed in scrolls and they need not to lug them around like huge logs.

The door to his room slid open and when he turned to look at it, he saw Suzumi enter the room. She smiled at him as she knelt down next to him. " Wow, it certainly is a lot of stuff you are taking back," she replied.

And it certainly was. The bedroom, which they would not be using anymore as of now, was literally covered in a layer of puppet parts and tools. Hiroshi had managed to seal most of it inside the scrolls, but he still had some more to go, not to mention all the ones Sora and Ryouta were helping him carry were already with them. Sora was probably chasing Hibiki around the village again, as he had somehow picked up the habit to harass her whenever available, and Ryouta and Makoto were always in discussion. Hiroshi knew they were in a deep discussion about ninjutsu, history and philosophy, but he never got around to try and understand what they liked to talk about.

" Indeed it is," Hiroshi said, trying to act normal with Suzumi staying so close to him. Over his stay, he seemed to have grown fond of Suzumi. Hibiki had told him she felt very much the same way, but neither of them had the courage to say it out loud. Being from a different village had nothing to do with it really, they were just nervous.

Hiroshi wondered what exactly that attracted him to her. Perhaps as Makoto had said, she just wasn't suitable as a shinobi, not in terms of skill, but in terms of attitude. She was indeed kind hearted, and had a caring nature, but neither the drive her two male teammates have. An angel would have been a suitable word, but Suzumi would not like it. She disliked being looked down as if she couldn't hold her own, even if she never did admit it. Hanging around with Sora made her grow bolder a little, and she had the guts to state whatever she disliked openly now, than previously dropping subtle hints people may or may not get.

" Anyway, I got it done. Here you go," Suzumi said, passing Hiroshi a photo.

It was a recent photo in which they took together with their senseis as a sort of keepsake. It was a hilarious picture in which they took at the top of one of the highest buildings in the village.

Both their senseis stood at the background while the genins took the front row. Shikamaru had his hands crossed, and he looked depressed and irritated somehow. This was either because he figured that taking a picture was just too much of a hassle, or it was due to Temari, who was right next to him, giving the camera a cheeky smile, with one arm around his neck and another flashing a V sign.

Hiroshi was in the middle of the picture, mainly due to the fact that he was forced there by Sora. Sora was right behind him, pulling his cheeks apart so that his face was stretched out as Hiroshi was waving his arms helplessly as Sora toyed with him. Suzumi was laughing hard on the right seeing the sight, and Ryouta could be seen shrugging at all the activity. Hibiki was squatting on the left, his spear on his shoulders hooking on by his arms hanging on the sides. Makoto was towards Hiroshi's right, dropping sand on his head just for added fun.

" Wasn't that fun?" Suzumi asked, smiling warmly.

" Hmm..." Hiroshi mused. _Besides sore cheeks and having sand in my hair, you mean..._

" Sora's really close to you, huh?" Suzumi asked in an off-handed manner.

" Eh? You think so? Not really...she likes to bully me a lot," Hiroshi mumbled.

" I think that's because she cares a lot for you. The rough facade is just a face she is putting up to hide that fact that she's capable of caring for people," Suzumi replied. Hiroshi didn't really reply, but nod his head as he continued to keep his stuff. " How'd you two meet anyway?"

" I've known her since a young age, I think sometime in the academy when we were 7 or 8. Loudest kid on the block. She was known to beat up boys twice her size, a ferocious little tiger, they liked to call her. I wasn't really what you'd call someone strong, so being bullied was something common for me in my younger years. So, she always liked to stick around, as I was a perfect excuse to beat up other people."

" Honestly, if you ask me personally, I believe she had never gotten over her lost. She lost her younger brother years ago, and perhaps that was when her attitude changed. People used to say she was such a sweet young kid, but no more. It's not that I hate her for it, but much of her life had been altered by that accident she sustained. It sort of gave her the need to be tough and resilient. She became the elder sister I have never had, and I became her younger brother that she never got to keep. I know that's probably honestly what she wants, but she never honestly told that to me. But, as good friend, I can keep quiet for her sake," Hiroshi said.

Suzumi listened quietly. It was times alone like these when they liked to share their thoughts and feelings together. Only both of them. Perhaps Suzumi sometimes felt that she had known Makoto and Hibiki too long to just trust them with things of the heart. Makoto was too carefree, and Hibiki too cynical. Hiroshi was more honest in that respect.

" Well, she stuck to me like a plague for the rest of my life. She was kind of the only friend I ever had throughout my entire time in the academy, always by my side...noisy, I know, but I appreciate the company. Perhaps if she picked up some feminine wills from you she might be able to get a boyfriend within the next ten years, if we are lucky," Hiroshi replied, grinning.

" Hiroshi, that's so rude!" Suzumi said, laughing. " How about Ryouta?"

" I only knew him a little in our last year. Ryouta was...how can I put it...a perfect embodiment, in my opinion, of what a real shinobi should be. Strong-willed, skilled, charming, witty and have the brains to match his looks. I sort of resented him at first, but then I grew to like him much better. I've always admired him for his achievements, and I kinda want to be like him. It's his belief for the strong to protect the weak...how awesome is that?!" Hiroshi asked.

" Yeah..." Suzumi said, giggling.

" How about Makoto and Hibiki then? How'd you get to know them?" Hiroshi asked.

" The usual, in the academy. Hibiki and Makoto were sort of already acquainted to one another at that time already. Makoto was sort of the elite in the class really. He had that cool and calm exterior about him, and not to mention that he was the top of his class, especially in ninjutsu. Everybody likes the cool and calm kind of guy," Suzumi said.

" I bet he has a lot of admirers," Hiroshi commented.

" He did, but he didn't really bother with them. He like to comment a lot about them liking what they see exteriorly, and not of his personality. He had been blind since I knew him, having lost his sight years ago. I sort of pitied him back then. A shinobi living without sight was just a bit too hard to think off. Yet, he was quite resolute, and I helped him a lot in honing his sense of hearing. That's when we really clicked, I believe."

" I have an idea that Makoto actually became friends with Hibiki just to look...well, tough and mean. Hibiki was a little notorious for being kind of the gangster type of guy, the tough, rough exterior and meanness to boot with his character. I can kind of understand from growing up half of his life without his family. It made him tougher and meaner, although he still managed to retain some of his humility. Perhaps that's why Makoto managed to click with him."

" The way he got with me was something like Sora and you: he saw me as some sort of vulnerable little sister, and he's the bigger brother who needs to take care of me. I dislike to think that I'm so useless that he needs to keep an eye on me, but I appreciate it. He's kinda friendly when you know him. See, he's great when he's around, isn't he?" Suzumi asked. " I'm amazed at your skills, Hiroshi."

" What?!" Hiroshi exclaimed, surprised at the sudden praise.

" Hibiki used to have a distinctly strong dislike for all Leaf shinobis. Somehow, you managed to make him think otherwise. I have yet to see him do anything against the rest of you since we came back that day. You managed to convince him somehow, something Makoto, Temari, or I, could not achieve, and this done by someone he hated quite well. You do have some talent in that field, do you?" Suzumi commented.

Hiroshi blushed slightly. " Not really...I believe it's important to hate your enemy on a personal basis, not because of what his allegiance is, or his affiliation. Dislike the person for his character, not because your superior asked you to," Hiroshi said.

" A naïve idea for a shinobi," Suzumi laughed.

" Same can be said for your attitude as well," Hiroshi rebutted. Both of them laughed at each other, just enjoying the joke between themselves for the moment.

" I'll leave you to pack then," Suzumi replied, bowing and leaving the room. Hiroshi felt awkward when she left, as if she had somehow managed to make her presence needed in the room. It suddenly felt empty when she left. Hiroshi shook her head and told himself he was imagining things.

--

" That punk Hiroshi is late!" Sora exclaimed loudly enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear. The common people turned around at the noisy kunoichi and whispered things in their ears as they passed on by. The guys, Ryouta, Makoto and Hibiki could only sigh at her attitude. They were taking a stroll in the village for the last time before the Leaf genins leave for good. However, Sora was making a lot of noise while the moved around. This was either because they were going back, or she was irritated by something, because she was noiser than normal.

" I though you didn't want to leave that soon. Hiroshi is doing you a favour by giving you some time to walk around," Makoto replied.

" Bah, he's just not being punctual," Sora spat.

" Oi, I'm here already, you mad woman!" Hiroshi exclaimed. All of them looked upwards to spot Hiroshi and Suzumi walking along the rooftops. " Suzumi told me how to take a shortcut, so we are on time."

" Excellent, since now that all of you are here, we can finally set off. I hope you all don't run away to hide from me, because we were supposed to leave an hour ago," a voice spoke.

" Shikamaru! Now only you show your face!?" Sora exclaimed, turning around and pointing a finger right at his face as he appeared right behind all of them, along with Temari-sensei, who waved in a cherry fashion at them.

" When did you expect me to come out then? Last night in your bedroom to wake you up in the morning?" Shikamaru asked.

" Shut up! You have been missing for the last few days! Where have you been?!" Sora demanded.

" You are not my mom, so I don't feel comfortable telling you anyway," Shikamaru replied. Turning to the rest of his students, he asked " What's wrong with her today? Is it that time when she has her p..."

" Oh hell no!" Sora yelled.

--

Some time later they found themselves at the entrance of the village between the two large walls. They walked awkwardly in silence, knowing it was time to part ways. Temari and her team stood at the end of the entrance as Shikamaru and his team prepared to set off, back towards their village.

" Why so sour? If you are lucky, you all can see each other during the up-coming Chuunin Select Exam," Shikamaru said, trying to keep their spirits up. " But I guess this will be the end of it. Shall we say goodbye?"

"Ah, but we haven't given our farewell gifts yet!" Sora exclaimed.

" You all prepared something of that sort?" Temari asked.

" This is for you, Suzumi," Sora said, taking out a package from her pack. It was a medium-sized pouch, brown in colour and packed with a load of stuff. " I've gone to the greenhouse and did some research on herb extracts. He's a few of them I did for you, packaged and all. Not all of them are pure and perfect, but they should do the job." Suzumi merely smiled and blushed as she accepted the package.

" Here," Ryouta said, tossing Makoto his own shinobi blade, which he caught deftly. " A neat and cool weapon for you to use. I've rarely used it, so I guess you can keep it. Use something that can cut relatively easy besides your wind blades, will you?"

" I'll keep that in mind," Makoto said, tying the sheath on his belt while grinning broadly.

" Catch this," Hiroshi said, taking out a weapon from his weapon launcher. To almost everyone's surprise, he somehow managed to procure Hibiki's spear which he always carried. Looking back, Makoto and Sora only realised now that Hibiki's spear was missing from its usual area on his back where he kept it. He tossed it at Hibiki, who caught it with relative ease. " I did some work on the blade and the weight, plus some minor improvements. You should find them useful."

" I think I shall...thank you," Hibiki replied, keeping his spear.

" Aww, this is sweet. You got this for us. But we haven't gotten anything for you," Suzumi replied.

" That's alright," Hiroshi said, patting Suzumi on her shoulder. " But you know, I think I know something which you can give us."

" What is it?" Suzumi asked eagerly.

With one bold move, Hiroshi held her face gently and kissed her on her lips. The reactions from the rest of them were varied: Suzumi was totally taken aback from his actions, turning pink in an instant. Sora's jaw dropped as far as it would go, and Ryouta merely gave an amused chuckle. Makoto and Shikamaru both raised their eyebrows while Hibiki and Temari were laughing, as if sharing a personal joke.

Hiroshi broke the kiss, and looking at Suzumi in her eyes before saying " Hibiki told me everything, and I accept. When you drop by my village if you have the chance, I'll go on a date with you. How does that sound?"

However, Hiroshi had to duck at that moment, because at that moment Sora swung her arms aimed at his head. He rolled aside, facing a rather vexed Sora. " Hiroshi, what the hell was the meaning of that?!" she snarled, shaking a fist at him. " How dare you touch Suzumi in such a fashion?!"

" Hey, it was you who rejected me in the first place. Don't get jealous, okay?" Hiroshi said. Sora gave chase, but Hiroshi had a head start as he ran first, knowing Sora would have a field day with him. Shikamaru sighed as his two students went running towards the desert. Makoto and Hibiki waved back as Hiroshi tried to wave back while being chased by Sora.

" Well, I'd say Hiroshi learned a lot here," Ryouta said.

" I dare say so as well," Shikamaru replied, walking along with Ryouta away towards the desert. Temari and her team stayed at the spot to watch them leave, waiting until they were gone beyond the horizon.

" Sounds..."

Hibiki, Makoto and Temari turned to Suzumi, who still looked rather slack from Hiroshi's kiss, trying to string a coherent sentence together.

" ...Sounds like a good idea..." she stammered after a while.

--

" Hibiki, you told him!" Suzumi exclaimed a while later when the three Sand genins were walking back from the entrance. Hibiki started to whistle, pretending not to listen to her.

" Geez, I had to, if not you wouldn't say anything," he replied.

" Since when did Suzumi fancy Hiroshi?" Makoto asked, sounding curious.

" A couple of days after the arrived. She told me she liked him somehow, so it was only an obligation to tell him how she felt," Hibiki said. He felt a swipe right behind him as Suzumi made contact with his head, but he didn't bother avoiding it. If Suzumi wanted to hit him, he was fine with it. " Come now, you can't be that mad at me right? Embarrassed, but surely not mad."

Suzumi pouted, puffing her cheeks, but her face indicated that she wasn't mad, but amused at his actions. " Anyway, if you are done hating me for it, I'll be off now. I need some rest. If you all need me, I'll be at my house," Hibiki replied, waving his hand at them. Makoto and Suzumi waved back, before walking off to the commercial district, Makoto interested in Suzumi's newly found interest.

Hibiki entered his house, the large empty mansion left in the middle of the village district. The house, as usual, was gloomy without any other inhabitants besides himself. The layer of dust was still prevalent, and Hibiki was just too lazy to clean it all up by himself. He took several steps up the staircase at once, and headed towards his room.

It had been a strange past few months for Hibiki. A lot had changed over the last few months with him mixing with the Leaf genins. A picture on his desk was testament to that: a picture of his team and the Leaf genin team, all of them fooling around in the picture with their jounin senseis in the background. He picked up the picture and took a good look. A Hibiki he did not recognise looked back out at him.

Hibiki merely chuckled. Setting down the picture frame, he walked out to his backyard. He was eager to find out how much Hiroshi had improved his spear.

_Writer's note: I sort of wanted to work on Hiroshi/Suzumi relationship more subtly, so this chapter may have been a bit sudden, but kinda what I planned anyway. Nothing much, just trying my hand on some character developement in this chapter. _

_Still, one more chapter to go: the epilogue._


	35. Epilogue: Hakane Maya

**Epilogue: Hakane Maya**

Somewhere near the northern border of the Sand country, where the lusher forests of the Sand country could be found, a lone figure ran across the landscape, moving as fast as she could afford it. In her arms she cradled a body, bleeding from the legs and limp, obviously dead. She continued to move forward, carrying the body along.

Kaname took a look behind her. The wound she had sustained on her upper chest was slowing her traveling considerably, however it seems like no one else seems to be following her, so it was quite alright in a way. She managed to put on some crude bandage on her wound, and most of the bleeding had stopped. Not much of their group managed to escape, perhaps save her and Maya.

After moving along in a bit, she paused. Up ahead was one of the Rock-nin encampments where they guard the border entrance. Going any further would risk getting them involved, and anywhere else would probably risk getting involved the Sand-nins that were chasing them. Kaname decided this would be a good spot to break for a while before she took any further action.

She placed Maya gently on the ground, then walked off and sat down while leaning on a tree trunk, trying to catch back her breath after the fight and all the running involved. Getting trashed by two genins didn't help either, although she had to agree it was at least fun fighting them.

Some time passed since them. Kaname stole impatient glances at her watch periodically, as if waiting for something. " About time now..." she muttered to herself.

" Argh!"

Maya's body suddenly tensed up, her back arching and her limbs spreading everywhere, as if she was going through a lot of pain, which was ironic for a dead person. Kaname winced slightly as Maya gave a blood-curling scream. A sharp, cracking sound could be heard in the air, as if parts of Maya's bones started to break apart under some sort of strain. As soon as it started, it ended as she dropped back down on the ground, about as lifeless for a while.

For the moment.

With a stuttering gasp, Maya sat straight up once again, gasping for her breath. She was sweating all over, as if she had just completed a long distance sprint that had taken everything out of her. She gagged a little bit, before turning aside and coughing out some amount of blood. Spitting out the dirty looking blood from her mouth, she wiped her mouth with her hand, and took a look around her.

" Did you get me here?" she asked when she spotted Kaname leaning against a tree nearby.

" Of course...it might be a bit problematic if you suddenly 'got up' once more right in front of them," Kaname replied. " How much more do you have left?"

Maya whipped out a kunai and ripped her vest apart slightly. Opening up the right side of her attire, one could see a sort of spiral going around her body. It covered most of her back, and the black spiral went around her entire chest, except for a small unfilled part in the middle of her chest. Looking carefully, Maya could see the spiral continue to form, spinning very slowly towards her heart, before pausing after a while.

" A bit more left...maybe once more, but after that, I'll need to fill it up," Maya replied, standing up. A bit tired, in pain with aches everywhere, but she was fine. Better now. She reached up and felt the area where Shikamaru's jutsu had taken effect, strangling her to death. There were some bruises around the area in the shape of a hand, and she winced slightly as she rubbed the base of her neck.

" I see that we have done pretty well," Kaname replied in an off-handed manner while Maya continued to check her entire body, as if trying to make sure that there was nothing missing. " Our whole contigent was destroyed, save for you and me, and so far, we have done nothing but chase a bunch of genins around, especially Kazuki, and we got nothing in return, especially after you begged Tamaki to take this on. You'll have a lot of explaining to do when we do get back, you do know that."

" Hush now...for a moment there, I think I sensed sarcasm in your voice," Maya replied while turning to look at her while grinning dangerously. " My loyalties don't lie with him. The rise and fall of the shinobi nations is something I can not be bothered with, so whatever he wants to do with it is none of my concern."

" ...Was it worth it?" Kaname asked, sighing.

" What was?"

" Seeing Kazuki again?"

Maya turned away, looking a bit forlorn somehow. " Well, it was too short, but..." she replied, before pausing a while before continuing. " ...I guess it was worth it to see what he had turned out to become after all these years."

" Well, what do we do now?" Kaname asked, changing the subject.

" Good question," Maya replied, giving her a broad grin. " We'll see about that...I'm famished. What do you want to eat?"

_Writer's note: There you have it, the finishing chapter for this part. And yeap, I'm working on the sequel as we speak, so expect it to be up some time later. It has been an enjoyable run, and thank you to those who have read, and to those who will. _


End file.
